4 ms·

If you don't mind me asking, what are some of the books? We share similar styles of 'buy lots of things about a particular topic'. The Civil War is one of tho

If you don't mind me asking, what are some of the books? We share similar styles of 'buy lots of things about a particular topic'. The Civil War is one of those where I've investigated very little, so any recommendation can jumpstart a bigger, much more invested search.

brightball 10y ago
Sure, I'll get you a list later tonight
brightball 10y ago
In order to jumpstart a more invested search you'll probably want something that gets your attention. For me, all of the online discussions of the war and cause that were so conflicting last year was what really got my curiosity up so I wanted to better understand both sides. To do that, I decided to start with a book that made the southern case since I had no understanding of it at all. Most of the books were by southern authors and seemed emotionally invested until I came across "When In the Course of Human Events: The Case for Southern Secession" by Charles Adams. This is the book that kick started everything for me because he's not southern and he's a professor who is an expert on global tax history. The book is extremely well cited (about 250 cites in 180 pages) and the cites annotate the paragraphs themselves. This is a huge help because thanks to the online Library of Congress and Google's effort to digitize books, every time you come across a "there's no way that's real" moment...of which there will be many...you can look up the cite and say "holy crap...that happened" The official tome of the civil war that's a longer read is Battlecry of Freedom by McPherson. There's a ton of material out there and as things get your attention you'll find lots of rabbit holes to dive down. The real trick of it is once you understand you'll notice so much oversimplification in internet conversations around it, even semi-official looking videos. A couple of things that will get your attention: - Each state had different reasons for seceding - Haiti played a HUGE part in secession - The causes of secession and the cause of war are 2 different things - Nobody died at Fort Sumter, the fort just ran out of ammo and the soldiers were saluted as they were returned to their ship. - The part that the media played in the war is extreme For a single link that can really put you in place of what was going on at that time, the Cherokee Declaration of Causes from 6 months into the war: http://www.cherokee.org/AboutTheNation/History/Events/CherokeeDeclarationofCauses(October28,1861).aspx http://www.cherokee.org/AboutTheNation/History/Events/Cherok... Once you get into it you'll find a lot more. The economic side of things really got my attention. There's a lot of interesting European history around it too. In depth on slavery is The Half That's Never Been Told (not an easy read). Most of the Southern accounts are very emotional in the writing style, which may or may not appeal to you. Even with citations that negatively impacts some of the credibility for me, but still interesting to see. There are also many collections of letters from the time period out there. The single biggest thing that I took away from is this: every action has an equal and opposite reaction applies to history as well. If you read about something that seems like an extreme response to something small, that's because there is a piece you haven't found out about yet.

brightball 10y ago

Sure, I'll get you a list later tonight

brightball 10y ago

In order to jumpstart a more invested search you'll probably want something that gets your attention. For me, all of the online discussions of the war and cause that were so conflicting last year was what really got my curiosity up so I wanted to better understand both sides. To do that, I decided to start with a book that made the southern case since I had no understanding of it at all. Most of the books were by southern authors and seemed emotionally invested until I came across "When In the Course of Human Events: The Case for Southern Secession" by Charles Adams. This is the book that kick started everything for me because he's not southern and he's a professor who is an expert on global tax history. The book is extremely well cited (about 250 cites in 180 pages) and the cites annotate the paragraphs themselves. This is a huge help because thanks to the online Library of Congress and Google's effort to digitize books, every time you come across a "there's no way that's real" moment...of which there will be many...you can look up the cite and say "holy crap...that happened" The official tome of the civil war that's a longer read is Battlecry of Freedom by McPherson. There's a ton of material out there and as things get your attention you'll find lots of rabbit holes to dive down. The real trick of it is once you understand you'll notice so much oversimplification in internet conversations around it, even semi-official looking videos. A couple of things that will get your attention: - Each state had different reasons for seceding - Haiti played a HUGE part in secession - The causes of secession and the cause of war are 2 different things - Nobody died at Fort Sumter, the fort just ran out of ammo and the soldiers were saluted as they were returned to their ship. - The part that the media played in the war is extreme For a single link that can really put you in place of what was going on at that time, the Cherokee Declaration of Causes from 6 months into the war: http://www.cherokee.org/AboutTheNation/History/Events/CherokeeDeclarationofCauses(October28,1861).aspx http://www.cherokee.org/AboutTheNation/History/Events/Cherok... Once you get into it you'll find a lot more. The economic side of things really got my attention. There's a lot of interesting European history around it too. In depth on slavery is The Half That's Never Been Told (not an easy read). Most of the Southern accounts are very emotional in the writing style, which may or may not appeal to you. Even with citations that negatively impacts some of the credibility for me, but still interesting to see. There are also many collections of letters from the time period out there. The single biggest thing that I took away from is this: every action has an equal and opposite reaction applies to history as well. If you read about something that seems like an extreme response to something small, that's because there is a piece you haven't found out about yet.