Download The American Civil War

The American Civil War
This is a reading course designed to introduce students to some of the major that have
preoccupied historians of the American Civil War. As such it will be topical more than thematic.
The readings will cover familiar topics—the secession crisis, military strategy, internal dissent,
the confederacy, turning points in the war—as well as more recent themes—violence, gender,
and emancipation. No one approach to the war will be favored. Instead we will cover the
military, social, political, and economic history of the Civil War.
As background reading, before the class begins, students are encouraged to read James
McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.
Students should come to the first class prepared to discuss Archer Jones and
Herman Hattaway, Why the North Won the Civil War.
All assigned books are available for purchase online.
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Aug. 30
Sept. 6
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Sept. 13
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INTRODUCTION:
Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones, How the North Won: A Military History of the
Civil War
THE POLITICS OF WAR: THE UNION
Philip Paludan, A People’s Contest
THE POLITICS OF WAR: THE CONFEDERACY
Gary W. Gallagher, The Confederate War
William W. Freehling, The South vs. The South
Anne Sarah Rubin, A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 18611868 (2005), pp. 1-111.
Recommended
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Sept. 20
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Sept. 27
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Emory Thomas, The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience (1971)
Paul D. Escott, After Secession: Jefferson Davis and the Failure of Confederate
Nationalism (1978)
Drew Gilpin Faust, The Creation of Confederate Nationalism (1988)
Richard Nelson Current, Lincoln’s Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy
(1992).
George Rable, The Confederate Republic: A Revolution Against Politics (1994)
LAW AND WAR
G. Edward White, Law in American History, Volume 1, From the Colonial Years
through the Civil War (New York, 2012), pp. 382-484.
Stephen C. Neff, Justice in Blue and Gray: A Legal History of the Civil War
BATTLEFIELD TACTICS
Edward Hagerman, The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare.
Earl Hess, Civil War Infantry Tactics
Recommended
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Robert V. Bruce, Lincoln and the Tools of War
Grady McWhiney and Perry D. Jamieson, Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics
and the Southern Heritage.
Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War
Oct. 14
THE CIVIL WAR AND THE WIDER WORLD
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Howard Jones, Blue and Gray Diplomacy
Don Doyle, The Cause of All Nations
Recommended
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Oct. 18
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Frank Owsley, King Cotton Diplomacy
Amanda Forman, A World on Fire
LEE AND CONFEDERATE STRATEGY
Thomas Lawrence Connelly and Archer Jones, The Politics of Command: Factions
and Ideas in Confederate Strategy (1973)
Richard M. McMurry, Two Great Rebel Armies (1989)
Joseph L. Harsh, Confederate Tide Rising: Robert E. Lee and the Making of
Southern Strategy, 1861-1862 (1998)
Recommended
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Oct. 25
Alan Nolan, Lee Considered,
Emory Thomas, Robert E. Lee: A Biography
GRANT AND UNION STRATEGY
William S. McFeely, Grant: A Biography, pp. xi-xiii, 165-173.
Brooks D. Simpson,”Butcher? Racist? An Examination of William S. McFeely’s
Grant: A Biography,” in Civil War History v.33, no. 1 (March, 1987), pp. 63-83.
James M. McPherson, “From Limited to Total War, 1861-1865,” in McPherson,
Drawn With the Sword, pp. 66-86.
Joan Waugh, U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth, pp. 49-101.
Jean Edward Smith, Grant, pp. 340-368.
Nov. 1
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GUERILLA WAR
Michael Fellman, Inside War: The Guerilla Conflict in Missouri.
Daniel Sutherland, A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerillas in the
American Civil War.
Nov. 8
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SOLDIERS
Bell Wiley,
Reed Mitchell, Civil War Soldiers
Joseph Glaathar, Forged in Battle
Recommended
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Bell Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank
Bell Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb
James McPherson, For Cause and Comrades
Chandra Manning, What this Cruel War was Over
Earl Hess, The Union Soldier in Battle
Nov. 15
WAR AND EMANCIPATION
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Nov. 22
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Nov. 29
Mark Grimsley, The Hard Hand of War, pp. 120-141.
Robert G. Tanner, Retreat to Victory? Confederate Strategy Reconsidered
John Fabian Witt, Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History
James Oakes, The Scorpion’s Sting, pp. 104-165.
THE DESTRUCTION OF SLAVERY
Bell Irvin Wiley, Southern Negroes, 1861-1865, pp. 3-23.
W.E.B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in America, pp. 55-83.
Thavolia Glymph, Out of the House of Bondage, 97-136.
Steven Hahn, The Political Worlds of Slavery and Freedom, 55-114.
Joseph T. Glatthaar, “Black Glory: The African American Role in Union Victory,” in
Gabor S. Boritt, Why the Confederacy Lost, pp. 133-162.
GENDERED WAR: Southern Women
Required
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Stephanie McCurry, Confederate Reckoning, pp. 1-217.
Judith Giesberg, Army at Home.
Recommended
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Drew Gilpin Faust, Mothers of Invention
Nina Silber, Daughters of the Union
Laura Edwards, Scarlett Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, 65-116
Dec. 6
MEMORY
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David Blight, Race and Reunion
Nina Silber, “Reunion and Reconciliation, Reviewed and Reconsidered,” Journal of
American History v. 103, no. 1 (June, 2016), pp. 59-83.