Don't Know Much About the Civil War

I think it is not a stretch to say that this is one of my favorite nonfiction books about the Civil War. This text describes every major event of the Civil War era, both what was leading up to it, and it's aftermath, in excellent detail, given the magnitude of the topic presented. This is because this is perhaps the most well written book that I have read in the nonfiction genre yet. It is extremely readable, and is a text that I would suggest to reluctant students of history for that reason alone. But there is even more to this book. Davis not only explores many different aspects of the Civil War, but he also includes smaller things that just take this book over the top for me as far as recommendations go. One thing he includes is a list of famous people who took part in the Civil war and gives the reader more information about what happened to them until their death. This is excellent for a reference guide. Then there is an excellent and copious list of book recommendations included in the back of the book covering nearly every topic imaginable.

On the other hand there are a few things to be aware of. Firstly, This is a book for those people who do not know a lot about the Civil War, and if you already know a lot, then you won't find much new information, but that is what you can gather from the title. Secondly, for those of you that have the 1996 edition, the USS Monitor was actually raised back in 2002, which, obviously, is not included in this edition of the book.

Still, these are extremely small pickings compared to what is on offer here. If you are a reluctant student who has to write a report, or if you are someone like me who just wants a quick reminder of what important events happened during this time, then this is the book for you. I give it a five out of five.