American History

[Slorm]

I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good books on American history; I'm particularly interested in the events, protagonists and military actions (both strategy and battle tactics) for the War of Independence and also the American Civil War.

 

I'm looking for an impartial or neutral record (as far as possible) rather than an authors partisan views of either side.

 

I would assume that I would be looking for academic books, so if they have a good writing style that engages the reader rather than boring them, then that would definitely be an added bonus.

 

Many thanks

[MaxRex]

14 minutes ago, Slorm said:

I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good books on American history; I'm particularly interested in the events, protagonists and military actions (both strategy and battle tactics) for the War of Independence and also the American Civil War.

 

I'm looking for an impartial or neutral record (as far as possible) rather than an authors partisan views of either side.

 

I would assume that I would be looking for academic books, so if they have a good writing style that engages the reader rather than boring them, then that would definitely be an added bonus.

 

Many thanks

The entire history of mankind is based on less than 10% truth... good luck.

[Grey Cloud]

7 minutes ago, MaxRex said:

The entire history of mankind is based on less than 10% truth

What a totally meaningless and useless statement.

[Psalam]

Probably the classic for the War Between the States is Bruce Catton's Civil War in 3 volumes. There are many other good works on this as well. The American War of Independence is not nearly so well catalogued in my experience.

[spoonsinger]

The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812, (or, Illustrations, by pen and pencil, of the history, biography, scenery, relics, and traditions of the last war for American independence), is quite good, (but old  -1869), If you can understand Charles Mackays - Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841), you can probably understand that.

[Grey Cloud]

John Keegan  - The American Civil War

Williamson Murray - A Savage War

Paddy Griffith - Battle Tactics of the Civil War

 

Not sure if I've read any of those particular books (probably have) but they are all authors who I have read pretty much everything they have written, including essays in academic journals.

 

Consider this:

In the century prior to 1815 (Waterloo) warfare hardly changed. In the century following 1815 virtually every aspect of warfare changed. The changes were engendered by the coming of railways and telegraph, advances in metallurgy and chemistry, and later aircraft and the tank.

This is evidenced, e.g. in the Crimean War (1853-56) and the ACW ten years later. Until Grant arrived, both sides were fighting a Napoleonic War because that is what they had been taught. Grant introduced the 'modern' way of conducting a war.

 

AWI not really my thing so I can't help there.

Fascinating Fact #34634 - The Jaeger units of the King's German Legion were one of the few success stories from a British perspective. This resulted in the post-war formation of light infantry units under Sir John Moore - who was later KIA at Corunna in the Peninsula War.

The Nursery rhyme 'The Grand Old Duke of York' is about the LI. The Duke of York was the C-in-C of the army (monarch's brother's traditional role).

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Grey Cloud

[Hex Bolt]

1 hour ago, Slorm said:

I would assume that I would be looking for academic books, so if they have a good writing style that engages the reader rather than boring them, then that would definitely be an added bonus.

"John Adams" by David McCullough focuses on one of the influential figures of American independence.  It reads more like a story than a history lesson, so it's an enjoyable read.

[MonVert]

15 hours ago, MaxRex said:

The entire history of mankind is based on less than 10% truth... good luck.

 

Nothing is real; everything is permitted? ?

 

Some real conspiracy thought going on there.

[Darkpig]

15 hours ago, MaxRex said:

The entire history of mankind is based on less than 10% truth... good luck.

Well the Americans were only playing a game of tag with the British.

[Slorm]

Many thanks everyone. For the civil war the Catton and Keegan books look most promising so I'll go for those.

 

I've been digging around on the war of Independence and I'll probably go for the volume by John Ferling (Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence) which seems to be well reviewed

[steelpanther24]

I would ask you that you consider Shelby Foote's series as well.

 

 

For more in depth look at the south (I took a course on the Confederate side in college), consider Thomas Emory's Confederate Nation.  Warning, this is a typical college text book but one that I mostly read.

Another book that does a good job of looking at the military/politic side (but is, imo, biased toward the debunked "lost cause") is Steven Woodworth's Jefferson and his Generals.

 

[steelpanther24]

5 hours ago, MonVert said:

 

Nothing is real; everything is permitted? ?

 

Some real conspiracy thought going on there.

 

Ah .. that is a good book on modern Russia:

 

[Grey Cloud]

57 minutes ago, steelpanther24 said:

(I took a course on the Confederate side in college),

You have Civil War sides in college? ? ?

[TT.]

it's not relateed to the war, but maybe you could have a look at Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, or The Jungle, if you want more social talk in America

[Grey Cloud]

40 minutes ago, TT. said:

it's not relateed to the war, but maybe you could have a look at Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, or The Jungle, if you want more social talk in America

Not related to either of the periods mentioned, not history or anything close to what the OP is looking for.

[Slorm]

3 hours ago, steelpanther24 said:

I would ask you that you consider Shelby Foote's series as well.

 

 

For more in depth look at the south (I took a course on the Confederate side in college), consider Thomas Emory's Confederate Nation.  Warning, this is a typical college text book but one that I mostly read.

Another book that does a good job of looking at the military/politic side (but is, imo, biased toward the debunked "lost cause") is Steven Woodworth's Jefferson and his Generals.

 

 

Thank you for that. I was originally going to go with the Catton trilogy. Amazon has it listed as a three book set but in fact it only has the first two in ebook form if you want the third you have to buy a separate hardback. You have to watch Amazon like a hawk for that I've seen it a few times with History books.

 

I'll give the Foote trilogy a try as they are all available on Kindle and certainly look interesting

[steelpanther24]

6 hours ago, Grey Cloud said:

You have Civil War sides in college? ? ?

 

400 (senior) level class.   I am guessing they did this to force the students to limit their range of "thesis" ideas.  While it was called a thesis it was just a glorified research paper that didn't do anything than give you a grade for the class. I wrote mine on operations of the Confederate Navy.  

 

[steelpanther24]

6 hours ago, TT. said:

it's not relateed to the war, but maybe you could have a look at Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, or The Jungle, if you want more social talk in America

 

Mice and Men equivalent:

Grapes of Wrath equivalent:

And the jungle equivalent:

 

Hmm, this may be why I never made the honor roll in school......

[TT.]

lmao. also the first one hits way too close

[Grey Cloud]

1 hour ago, steelpanther24 said:

 

Mice and Men equivalent:

I used to love that character - still do. What's name? He didn't appear that many times.

BTW, the look on Daffy's face. ?

 

1 hour ago, steelpanther24 said:

Grapes of Wrath equivalent:

 

 

In the UK they are also called haemorrhoids. ?

[Grey Cloud]

6 hours ago, Slorm said:

I'll give the Foote trilogy

That would be a yarde. ? I'll get my coat.

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Grey Cloud

[Slorm]

13 hours ago, Grey Cloud said:

That would be a yarde. ? I'll get my coat.

 

 

LOL, have a  for that one

[Grey Cloud]

1 hour ago, Slorm said:

 

LOL, have a  for that one

A yarde of ale?

[Splendor Solis]

On 7/10/2022 at 9:53 AM, Grey Cloud said:

You have Civil War sides in college? ? ?

Yes, it's very bad. The computer science department and their allies in the engineering department declared war on the biology department and took them out quickly with a surprise attack through the philosophy department. However, there was a secret alliance between the biology department and the business school, so the tired comp sci/engineering armies have to fight insurgencies in the biology and philosophy classrooms as well as the full business department. The history and literature departments recently finished their border conflict and people are afraid that they'll soon take a side in the war and escalate it further.

[Grey Cloud]

1 minute ago, Splendor Solis said:

Yes, it's very bad. The computer science department and their allies in the engineering department declared war on the biology department and took them out quickly with a surprise attack through the philosophy department. However, there was a secret alliance between the biology department and the business school, so the tired comp sci/engineering armies have to fight insurgencies in the biology and philosophy classrooms as well as the full business department. The history and literature departments recently finished their border conflict and people are afraid that they'll soon take a side in the war and escalate it further.

Wow, and to think it all started with an argument over funding. ?