Reading List
Hi, Just getting into the ACW and wondering whether there are any "must read" books anyone would recommend.. I've picked up a copy of Philip Katcher's American Civil War Sourcebook, but that's it for the time being. Are the Shelby Foote volumes worthwhile, and are there any "must have" Osprey titles...? thanks Bob Mcleish

Anything by Cozzens is great. Especially for this scale. He wrote a great trilogy that focuses on Stones River, Chickamauga, and Chatanooga. The Chickamauga book, "This Terrible Sound", has plenty of potential regimental actions and maps in it.

For painting inspiration you couldn't do much better than Don Troiani http://www.amazon.co.uk/Don-Troianis-Civil-War-Troiani/dp/081170341X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228751240&sr=1-5 For a great overview and read though somewhat southern biased you couldnt beat Shelby Foote, but have the tissues ready. For specific Battles the Osprey Campaign Series are great.

Shelby Foote's 3-volume study is both immensely readable, and highly entertaining; the 'empathetic' approach taken to southern concerns was a very necessary corrective to the hegemony of vituperative pro-Federal treatments at the time of publication. Another valuable study in a single volume format is The Civil War: An Illustrated History, by Geoffrey C. Ward, with Ric Burns and Ken Burns (ISBN 0-394-562-85-2), New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. This is a 'companion' volume for the PBS series produced by the same authors in early 1990's, and frequently rebroadcast here in the UK on the History Channel.