The best books on American Civil War history that reads like literature

The story of the Civil War comprises one of the most gripping narratives of American history and Shelby Foote, a great novelist, knows how tell the tale with the sort of dash and brio the subject demands. Spanning three volumes, Foote’s magisterial treatment of the era not only needs to be read by anyone interested in deepening their understanding of how America got to where it is today, it also demands to be savored by any lover of fine, singing sentences. I was lucky enough to encounter the trilogy early in my writing of my book and Foote’s wealth of anecdote really helped to flesh out the arc of my own narrative.

Part of the enduring popularity of the Battle of Gettysburg studies, is that the battle offers a true microcosm of the American Civil War—from politics to personalities. A meeting engagement, a desperate struggle, a turning point, and human tragedy on a scale the continent had never seen before, the events of those three days in July still resonant down the years. Guelzo’s book, besides being one of the most recent, offers wonderful descriptions of every facet of the battle with finely-crafted prose and a pacing that will keep readers invested from start to finish.

You cannot come to grips with an understanding of American Civil War history without also coming to grips with the homespun genius of the 16th American President, Abraham Lincoln. The man and the conflict are entirely inseparable and, of the truly astonishing number of Lincoln studies available, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s narrative of the political maneuverings of Lincoln and his Cabinet is one of the very best for its breadth, insight, and understanding not just of the conflict but also of the man who has come to embody that struggle.

Bruce Catton wrote extensively about the noble but ill-starred Army of the Potomac and is widely known for his wonderful trilogy recounting that army’s path through the American Civil War. With Grant Takes Command, Catton looks west for a time toward General Ulysses S. Grant and how he came east to lead all the Union armies toward eventual victory. Recounting Grant’s (and the country’s) journey from the opening of the cracker line in Chattanooga in 1863, through the Battle of the Wilderness (a subject that captured my imagination!) and the Overland Campaign and on to Appomattox Courthouse and the surrender of the Confederacy, Catton’s book moves through its narrative with a style and verve to match any piece of gripping fiction. 

The American Civil War was a war and war means fighting and fighting means battles so it is no wonder that the vast bulk of Civil War histories are battle studies. The best ones fold in events and personalities beyond the reach of individual battlefields to provide a gestalt view of the era as a whole and Sears’ book is, indeed, one of the best. Much depended on Antietam—from the ongoing character of the conflict to Lincoln being emboldened enough to issue the mighty Emancipation Proclamation—and Sears deftly guides his narrative through the astonishing turns of fate and chance that resulted in a narrow Union victory General McClellan called his “masterpiece of art” (spoiler: it wasn’t).