Best products from r/USCivilWar

We found 24 comments on r/USCivilWar discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 49 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

Top comments mentioning products on r/USCivilWar:

u/dro13 · 5 pointsr/USCivilWar

The best all encompassing book on the civil war is "Battle Cry of Freedom" by James McPherson. It can be a little dry and reads a little bit like a textbook. This one may be a little bit of a "deep dive" but it certainly is the best overall book IMO.

I think the best book for you personally would be a coffee table book put out by the Smithsonian titled, "The Civil War. A Visual History". https://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Visual-History/dp/1465429573
I think since you are someone that normally isn't into this stuff, a book with a lot of visual depictions will keep you more interested. It is a book that you can pick up and just kinda glance over here and there rather than a dry text that would be best read cover to cover.

Another suggestion would be to skip the books and watch a documentary such as "Ken Burn's Civil War". I believe that's on Netflix. It's by far the most well known documentary on the subject and it's very well done. It is not perfect from the historian perspective, but it's still great.

Another non-book suggestion would be the videos put on YouTube by the Civil War Trust. This one is on the entire war: https://youtu.be/ZmxfJqxwVIs
They also put out some quick "Civil War in 4 minutes" videos that go over different topics briefly. They are very informative despite their short length. https://youtu.be/v5pWc1_8mU4


Hope this helps. I'm on mobile so I'm sorry if this is a bit poorly formatted.

u/Yellow_Kitty · 1 pointr/USCivilWar

If you're looking for something a little different or something a little humorous, I highly recommend Confederates in the Attic. This book is about the legacy of the war and how it is viewed by Southerners. It is very funny and one of my absolute favorite books. If you're looking for something conventional with primary sources, I recommend Reading the Man, which is a great book with Robert E. Lee's letters.

u/stgilesbuzzman · 2 pointsr/USCivilWar

"A Little Fifer's War Diary" is pretty great: https://archive.org/details/littlefiferswar00bardrich Regimental histories can be wonderful sources regarding the common soldier's experiences as well. John J. Pullen's "The 20th Maine" is one that immediately springs to mind: https://www.amazon.com/Twentieth-Maine-Chamberlain-Volunteer-Regiment/dp/0811735249. But if you have a particular unit in mind for your character, definitely look up any relevant regimental histories that might be available.

u/cjm427 · 3 pointsr/USCivilWar

The Civil War Trust, a group dedicated to preserving battlefields, has a really good map section. Some of them are even animated.

http://www.civilwar.org/maps/animated-maps/

You can also check the NPS sites for various battlefields, as they sometimes have good maps.

This book is also pretty good:
http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Civil-War-Complete-Tactics/dp/1426203470/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=61TsRd1h-jL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR122%2C160_&refRID=08882N170JEKS439HZDE

You can alwAys just do a quick Google search, too.

u/Yazbremski · 2 pointsr/USCivilWar

Everything everyone is suggesting is great and all. I'd start with Ken Burns documentary and also get this book.

The Seven Day Scholar: The Civil War

It has 52 chapters that go from start to finish and is an easy and quick read that explains the basics. It's good stuff.

u/Seeda_Boo · 1 pointr/USCivilWar

If you can find it, The Golden Book of the Civil War is an amazing work that I still consult even though it was written for children and I've owned it for around 45 years. One of the items it includes is a fantastic bar graph that illustrates the vast differences in various types of assets between the North and South.

u/panzermeyer · 2 pointsr/USCivilWar

It's very well written, reads like a novel. Goes into great detail about the man, his personality, his personal life. And of course his military career and exploits. Very good book.

Also, if you have the time, get yourself this:https://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Volumes-1-3-Box/dp/0394749138

Civil War - By Shelby Foote. Best Civil War books I have ever read!

u/HermeticAbyss · 2 pointsr/USCivilWar

David Greenspan did some really great art like that, not sure there are prints to be found though.

https://thehistoriansmanifesto.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/the-civil-war-maps-of-david-greenspan/

There's also this book with some nice overhead cg art. Again, no prints though.
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Battles-Civil-John-MacDonald/dp/0785830952

u/CherryNerdsAreBest · 1 pointr/USCivilWar

Earlier this week, I ordered the 2nd and 3rd and this one. I've read many, many positive reviews on the second book, so I figured it was something worth looking into.

u/JimH10 · 3 pointsr/USCivilWar

It sounds as though there is a consensus, but I'll also add MacPherson's Crossroads of Freedom, a thinner book, but also very enjoyable.

u/chubachus · 1 pointr/USCivilWar

Film-like animated sequence I created of seven photographs of John Wilkes Booth posing with two unidentified men, possibly actors, said to be taken in 1861. The images were probably meant to be used as promotional material for an unknown theatrical production. Photograph source.

The context of the photographs I think might be found in the book "John Wilkes Booth Himself," which is said to have many rare photographs of Booth, but second hand copies cost more than 300 dollars as there were only 1000 copies of the book printed.

u/ryan_holiday · 3 pointsr/USCivilWar

Vicksburg has been stuck in my mind since I first visited it, it took probably a dozen books for me to fully wrap my head around it. I ended up telling the story at some length in my new book and used the marketing as an excuse to have this video produced. Hope you all like it.

u/Hschieff · 1 pointr/USCivilWar

https://www.amazon.com/Stonewall-West-Patrick-Cleburne-Paperback/dp/0700609342

I enjoyed this one, didn't know much about Cleburne beforehand other than the highlights

u/ekwcawaew · 1 pointr/USCivilWar

Two really good books on the topic are, The Gray and the Black and Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0807125571/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195315863/ref=rdr_ext_tmb