Don't Know Much About the Civil War: Everything You Need to Know About America's Greatest Conflict but Never Learned

Superficial survey of the Civil War, but entertaining. The book is in a question and answer form, which allows the author to expand on legends, names and rumors that may only be known as "news bytes." In this way Davis touches on topics not usually included in overviews, e.g., the massacre at Ft. Pillow, the unresolved questions about Pickett's charge, Stonewall Jackson's idiosyncracies, etc. A good start for those who actually don't know much about the Civil War. (JAF)

As a Brit reading this I was even further behind the curve that the author expected of his US readership as the Civil War was barely touched upon in our core curriculum when I was at school and so this book was bought as a bit of a primer to get me up to speed with the basics.

That much it certainly did and I know a lot more now, although I have to say I found the style somewhat idiosyncratic and wonder if it maybe follows a stylistic custom of US schoolbooks. The question and answer format followed by a summation was at best repetitive.

However, putting style aside, if you want a basic understanding of the conflict I'd certainly consider this book.

I read this book in conjunction with several other books in order to gain an in-depth knowledge of the Civil War through several authors’ perspectives. I like that this book contained so many primary sources so that I could understand what people were thinking and feeling. Davis sometimes includes light-hearted and humorous stories, which makes this book even more interesting and fun.

In addition, I like the timelines and the fact that they include events, which were occurring outside of the Civil War, such as Indian battles in Colorado, or books being written by famous authors. Most of what is written about this time period focuses primarily on the Civil War, and I have often wondered what else was occurring during this period. One show more example would be the westward migration of settlers. I also like the appendices in the back of the book, which compared the economies of the North and South. It really helped me to understand what each side was working with in terms of number of states, population, economy, factories, railroads, etc.

One of my favorite parts of the book, however, was the 'Whatever Became Of?' section near the end. It names many of the primary players in the Civil War, and tells what they went on to do after the war. It was interesting seeing so many connections between these people and the roles they played in our country's history. Finally, I appreciated the fact that this book was written in small increments. You can pick up the book, read a few pages, set it down, and come back to it later. This is great for when you are busy. show less

It was interesting but there was SO much information I felt like I had to study it not just read it through once.