Suggested Reading
Listed below are a series of books that would be appropriate suggestions for Civil War 150
discussion groups in addition to the Civil War 150 readers.
SUGGESTED BOOKS BY TOPIC FOR ADULTS
Causes behind the Civil War:
Gallagher, Gary. The Union War. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
Goodheart, Adam. 1861: The Civil War Awakening. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the
Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.
McPherson, James M. For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1997.
Simpson, Brooke D., Stephen W. Sears, and Aaron Charles Sheehan-Dean, eds. The Civil War:
The First Year Told by Those Who Lived It. New York: The Library of America, 2011.
Slavery, Abolition, and Race:
Andrews, William L. and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., eds. Slave Narratives. New York: The
Library of America, 2000.
Ash, Stephen V. Firebrand of Liberty: The Story of Two Black Regiments that Changed the
Course of the Civil War. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008.
Blight, David, ed. A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Own
Narratives of Emancipation. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books, 2007.
Blight, David. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. Cambridge, MA:
Belknap Press, 2002.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., ed. Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies. New York: The Library of
America, 1994.
Holzer, Harold, Edna Greene Medford, and Frank J. Williams. The Emancipation Proclamation:
Three Views (Conflicting Worlds). Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006.
Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Horton. In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community and Protest
among Northern Free Blacks, 1700–1860. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Horton. Slavery and the Making of America. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2005.
Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Edited by L. Maria Child. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Jones, Howard. Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: The Union and Slavery in the
Diplomacy of the Civil War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
Oakes, James. The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the
Triumph of Antislavery Politics. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.
Savage, Kirk. Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves: Race, War, and Monument in NineteenthCentury America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.
Women in the War and on the Home Front:
Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the
American Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
Campbell, Edward D. C., Kym S. Rice, and Joan E. Cashin, eds. A Woman’s War: Southern
Women, Civil War, and the Confederate Legacy. Richmond: University Press of Virginia,
1996.
Clinton, Catherine, and Nina Silber, eds. Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1992.
Faust, Drew Gilpin. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
Giesberg, Judith Ann. Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on the Northern Home Front.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
Massey, Mary Elizabeth. Women in the Civil War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.
Ropes, Hannah Anderson. Civil War Nurse: The Diary and Letters of Hannah Ropes. Edited by
John R. Brumgardt. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1980.
Silber, Nina. Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2005.
Military History:
Bearss, Edwin C. Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War. Washington, DC: National
Geographic Society, 2006.
Groom, Winston. Shiloh, 1862. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2012.
Hyslop, Stephen. Atlas of the Civil War: A Complete Guide to the Tactics and Terrain of Battle.
Edited by Neil Kagan. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2009.
Keegan, John. The American Civil War: A Military History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.
Kennedy, Frances H. The Civil War Battlefield Guide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
McFeely, Mary Drake and William S. McFeely, eds. Ulysses S. Grant: Memoirs and Selected
Letters. New York: The Library of America, 1990.
Royster, Charles, ed. William Tecumseh Sherman: Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman. New
York: The Library of America, 1990.
Woodworth, Steven E. Jefferson Davis and His Generals: The Failure of Confederate Command
in the West. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990.
Lincoln and His Legacy:
Boritt, Gabor S. The Lincoln Enigma: The Changing Faces of an American Icon. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2001.
Carwardine, Richard. Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
Cox, Lawanda C. Fenlason. Lincoln and Black Freedom: A Study in Presidential Leadership.
Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994.
Donald, David Herbert, and Harold Holzer. Lincoln in the Times: The Life of Abraham Lincoln,
as Originally Reported in the New York Times. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005.
Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Fehrenbacher, Don E., ed. Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings, ed. New York: The
Library of America, 1989.
Foner, Eric. The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. New York: W.W. Norton,
2010.
Franklin, John Hope. The Emancipation Proclamation. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Guelzo, Allen C. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President. Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999.
Holzer, Harold, ed. The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to
Now. New York: The Library of America, 2009.
Holzer, Harold, ed. Lincoln on War. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2011.
Klingaman, William K. Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation. New York: Viking,
2001.
Lehrman, Lewis. Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point: Getting Right with the Declaration of
Independence. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008.
McGovern, George S. Abraham Lincoln. New York: Times Books/Henry Holt & Co., 2009.
McPherson, James M. Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1991.
McPherson, James M. Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief. New York:
Penguin Press, 2008.
Neely, Mark E., Jr. The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1991.
Oates, Stephen B. With Malice toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Harper &
Row, 1977.
Simon, John Y., and Harold Holzer, eds. The Lincoln Forum: Rediscovering Abraham Lincoln.
New York: Fordham University Press, 2002.
Swanson, James L. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. New York: Harper
Perennial, 2007.
White, Ronald. Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2002.
Williams, Frank J. Judging Lincoln. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002.
Wills, Garry. Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1992.
Wilson, Douglas L. Lincoln’s Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
General Overview:
Davis, Rodney O., and Wilson, Douglas L., eds. The Lincoln Douglas Debates: The Lincoln
Studies Center Edition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008.
Gallagher, Gary, Stephen D. Engle, Joseph T. Glatthar, and Robert K. Krick. The American Civil
War: This Mighty Scourge of War. Oxford: Osprey, 2003.
Gallman, Matthew J. The North Fights the Civil War: The Home Front. Chicago: I. R. Dee,
1994.
McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1988.
McPherson, James M. This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2007.
Sears, Stephen W., ed. The Civil War: The Second Year Told by Those Who Lived It. New York:
The Library of America, 2012
Related Web Resources
Please visit the following websites for additional information regarding topics introduced in the
Civil War 150 readers.
For Adults
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History’s History by Era
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/civil-war-and-reconstruction-1861-1877
Material on nineteenth-century culture and the Civil War
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History’s Online Journal History Now
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/past-issues
Please consider:





Primary Sources on Slavery (Issue 2, Winter 2004)
Abolition (Issue 5, Fall 2005)
Lincoln (Issue 6, Winter 2005)
Abraham Lincoln in His Time and Ours (Issue 18, Winter 2008)
New Interpretations of the Civil War (Issue 26, Winter 2010)
United States Civil War
http://www.us-civilwar.com/
Basic background information concerning the Civil War.
National Park Service Civil War Website
http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/index.htm
A critical analysis of the Civil War through the stories, people, and places that were central to the
war.
The Making of America
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp/index.html
A digital library of primary source material covering the antebellum period through
Reconstruction. Search collection by title, author, or subject to find Civil War resources.
Civil War Trust
http://www.civilwar.org
Civil War battlefield information as well as educational resources.
The Civil War
http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
A companion site to Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary. Includes an image browser, maps,
biographies, and related links.
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877
http://www.loc.gov/topics/content.php?subcat=8
Selected primary source content available online at the Library of Congress.
The United States Civil War Center
http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/
Links to other valuable resources, including Civil War collections and book reviews.
Documenting the American South
http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/index.html
A wide range of maps, photographs, printed works, Confederate currency, manuscripts, and
diaries.
The Valley of the Shadow
http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/
A collection of original letters, diaries, newspapers, and speeches detailing the lives of two
American communities, one Northern and one Southern.
Civil War Potpourri
http://www.civilwarhome.com/potpourr.htm
A variety of articles on the Civil War. Topics include causes, battles, compromises, slavery,
diplomacy, and roles of women and youth during the war.
The Civil War in Art
http://civilwarinart.org/
Resources to help teachers and students learn about various Civil War topics and events through
art.
A Sampler of Civil War Literature
http://www.civilwarliterature.com/
Online access to fifteen Civil War stories from the pages of Harper’s Weekly.
Have Fun with History
http://havefunwithhistory.com/HistorySubjects/AmericanCivilWar.html
A compilation of short videos pertaining to different topics throughout the Civil War.
The Presidential Elections 1860–1912
http://elections.harpweek.com/
Cartoons, posters, campaign materials, and other information concerning key presidential
elections during the Civil War and beyond.
A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ahd/index.html
A useful overview of the Civil War, including its causes, content, and consequences.
Gettysburg Address
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/gettysburgaddress/Pages/default.aspx
Various drafts of the war’s most famous address with supporting documents and commentary
from the Library of Congress.
Civil War Maps
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/civil_war_maps/
Maps collected from the Library of Congress, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Library of
Virginia.
Rare Map Collection
http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/civil.html
A collection of reproductions of rare maps from the Civil War.
Civil War Battles by State
http://www.americancivilwar.com/statepic/
A selection of Civil War maps organized by state.
The War of Rebellion
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/records/default.cfm?CFID=23989096&CFTOKEN=8469477
4&jsessionid=4630ea17a18c0cb3ec952a721e2b1a1a1458
A compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War.
The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
http://www.civilwarhome.com/records.htm
Official documents and descriptions of important military confrontations organized by battle.
Poetry and Music
http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/
A collection of poems and songs written during and after the war.
Band Music from the Civil War Era
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwmhtml/cwmhome.html
Printed and manuscript music selected from the collections of the Music Division of the Library
of Congress and the Walter Dignam Collections of the Manchester Historic Association.
Civil War: Letters and Diaries
http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/library/letters/index.cfm
A collection of letters, journals, and diaries of soldiers who fought in the Civil War.
Civil War Biographies
http://www.civilwarhome.com/biograph.htm
A collection of short biographical descriptions of some of the major Union and Confederate
military personalities with regards to their involvement in the Civil War.
Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/nhihtml/cwnyhshome.html
Digital reproductions of the New-York Historical Society’s archive of the Civil War.
Civil War 150: National Portrait Gallery
http://npg.si.edu/exhibit/cw/npgcivilwar.html
Links to a series of seven exhibitions from the Smithsonian related to the Civil War and the
presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
Selected Civil War Photographs
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html
Scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle after-effects.
Pictures of the Civil War
http://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/photos/index.html#activities
A collection of images from the Civil War of civilians and civilian activities; military personnel,
equipment, and activities; and the locations and aftermaths of battles.
Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of War
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/7milVol/index.html
Digitized images from Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War with their original
captions.
Photographs of African Americans during the Civil War
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/081_cwaf.html
Photographs from the Civil War Photograph Collection that include African Americans.
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936–1938
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html
A collection of more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white
photographs of former slaves collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writer’s Project of the
Works Progress Administration (WPA).
The Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/mayantislavery/
An extensive collection of anti-slavery pamphlets, literature, and correspondence.
The Emancipation Proclamation
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/
Background information regarding the Emancipation Proclamation as well as access to digital
copies of the original document.
Civil War Women: Women and the Home Front
http://guides.library.duke.edu/civilwarwomen
A collection of women’s diaries, letters, and memoirs from the Civil War. (After selecting a
topic, refine your search to archival materials on the left-hand sidebar to access primary source
materials).
For Young Audiences
Lessons on Slavery, the Crisis of the Union, and the Civil War and Reconstruction
http://edsitement.neh.gov/edsitement-lessons-slavery-crisis-union-civil-war-and-reconstruction
(6–12) Lesson plans from the National Endowment for the Humanities EDSITEment website are
built upon the analysis of primary sources, through which students are asked to critically
examine the Civil War.
Discovering the Civil War
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/civil-war/
Information concerning the National Archives’ Civil War exhibit as well as additional
educational materials to accompany the exhibit. (To access additional resources select the
Resources or Education links on the main page).
Civil War Trust
http://www.civilwar.org/education/students/
(K–12) A resource for students with maps, photos, and games.
The Civil War
http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/classroom/activities.html
(9–12) Lesson plans and activity ideas for topics in the Civil War.
The American Civil War
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html#state
Extensive information regarding the Civil War, covering its causes, famous battles, and leaders.
The Lincoln/Douglas Debates of 1858
http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/lincolndouglas/
(9–12) A comprehensive collection of transcriptions from Democratic and Republican
newspapers covering the Lincoln-Douglas debates. This site also includes a video discussing the
debates and a series of images, maps, and lesson plans.
Lincoln/Net
http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/aboutinfo.html
(6–8) Information regarding Lincoln’s life from Illinois to his role as president. Includes valuable
links to Lincoln’s writings.
Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html
A collection of nearly 20,000 documents. Includes correspondence, speeches, notes, and other
printed material related to Lincoln and the Civil War era.
Letters, Telegrams, and Photographs Illustrating Factors that Affected the Civil War
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-war-docs/activities.html
(6–8) A lesson plan including creative writing assignments, oral history projects, and document
analysis. Students are asked to use documents and photographs from the period to discuss
important factors in winning the war.
Historical Maps of the Civil War
http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/civilwar/index.html
Digital reproductions of maps created during the Civil War era organized by battle.
Slave Narratives
http://shprs.clas.asu.edu/civil_war_and_reconstruction
(K–5) A collection of oral histories meant to encourage students to look at the lives of slaves and
compare slave life to the lives of free African Americans after the Civil War.
Africans in America: The Civil War and Reconstruction
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4narr5.html
(9–12) A collection of images, documents, stories, and biographies that relate to the debate over
slavery in America and the changing role of African Americans over time.
The Battle of Bentonville: Caring for Casualties of the Civil War
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/69bentonville/69bentonville.htm
(6–8) Images and lesson plans that ask students to discuss changes in caring for the Civil War
wounded.
Civil War Medicine
http://civilwarhome.com/civilwarmedicineintro.htm
(9–12) A series of articles outlining the changes occurring in medical care for soldiers
throughout the Civil War through primary sources. This site also summarizes the introduction of
women onto the battlefront as nurses.
Not Just a Man’s War
http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/manswar/
(9–12) A lesson plan that looks at the role of women during the Civil War.
Famous American Trials: Trial of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators, 1865
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/lincolnconspiracy.html
(9–12) A detailed review of the trial of John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators. Includes extra
educational resources and games.
Suggested Films
Historical Documentaries
The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns, 1990 (680 min)
(TV-PG) This TV miniseries documentary from PBS traces the course of the Civil War from the
abolitionist movement through all of the major battles to the beginnings of Reconstruction.
Greatest Battles of the Civil War, 2009 (415 min)
(NR) This eight episode TV miniseries explores the greatest battles of the Civil War that shaped
the conflict and the future of the United States. This documentary series features rare
photographs and many reenactments as well as commentary from leading Civil War experts.
Civil War Combat: America’s Bloodiest Battles, 2011 (200 min)
(NR) This series explores four particularly harrowing battles of the Civil War: Shiloh, Antietam,
Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. Filmed on location, the Civil War reenactments provide insight
into how the war might have looked to the soldiers who fought it.
Gettysburg and Stories of Valor: Civil War Minutes III, 2004 (180 min)
(NR) This documentary covers the Gettysburg battlefield, examines rare Civil War artifacts, and
tells the personal stories of the men who fought in the war.
Civil War Minutes: Confederate, 2007 (75 min)
(NR) These episodes feature the rarely told stories and artifacts of Confederate soldiers.
Civil War Minutes: Union, 2011 (180 min)
(NR) This series examines the lives of Union soldiers throughout the Civil War.
The Underground Railroad, 1999 (95 min)
(NR) This TV documentary tells the story of the Underground Railroad, an informal network of
people and hiding places that helped African American slaves escape the American South.
Historical Dramas
Gone with the Wind, 1939 (238 min)
(PG) Set during the Civil War and Reconstruction, this American classic examines the tensions
that underlay the conflict through the lens of a love story.
Gettysburg, 1993 (271 min)
(PG) This film walks through the battle of Gettysburg focusing on Confederate General Robert
E. Lee and Lieutenant General James Longstreet, and Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. It
explores not only the battle itself but also the historical context surrounding the war.
Gods and Generals, 2003 (219 min)
(PG-13) This film follows the rise and fall of legendary Confederate war hero Thomas
“Stonewall” Jackson from 1861 to 1863. Prequel to Gettsyburg.
Glory, 1989 (122 min)
(R) This film tells the story of the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, an allAfrican American unit comprised of Northern freemen and escaped slaves. It focuses on their
brave assault on the Confederate Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1863.
Cold Mountain, 2003 (154 min)
(R) This Civil War love story follows the perilous journey of a wounded Confederate soldier
trying to return home to his sweetheart in North Carolina.
North and South, 1985 (561 min)
(NR) This film follows the struggle of one Northerner and one Southerner as they struggle to
maintain their friendship through the turmoil of the Civil War.
The Blue and the Gray, 1982 (381 min)
(NR) A story about two families divided by the Civil War.
Ride with the Devil, 1999, (138 min)
(R) This drama, taking place in divided Missouri, follows the “irregular” warfare that was fought
during the Civil War. It explores the division between the bushwhackers and the jayhawkers and
the tension between those who participated in the Civil War outside of the context of the
Northern-Southern division.
Andersonville, 1996 (167 min)
(NR) This TV movie tells the story of the most notorious Confederate prisoner-of-war camp
during the Civil War.