The Civil War Interactive website recently released its list of the Top 50 Best Civil War Books. A few Civil War related bloggers have shared their thoughts on the survey, and for what their worth, here are mine. I admit that I haven’t read most of those listed.
There are many noteworthy books included, but there were only two that had anything to do with the Western Theater of the war. Granted, most of the renowned works concentrate on the Eastern Theater and it’s always been that way. Most of the books were general histories, references, biographies and autobiographies, with but a few that focused on specific battles and campaigns. I agree with most of their selections, but again: Where were the books on the West? Was not Wiley Sword’s classic Shiloh: Bloody April and James Lee McDougal’s books on Shiloh, Stones River, and Franklin worthy of inclusion? I did agree with Steven E. Woodworth’s Nothing But Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861-1865 (#27) It and Peter Cozzen’s This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga (#25) were the only Western related books on the list. (Col. Aytch could count, too.)
Kevin D. McCann 