NEWS: While researching my 2021 guidebook, Bicycling Chickamauga Battlefield: The Cyclist’s Civil War Travel Guide (paid link), I bought many books on the Battle of Chickamauga (September, 1863). Each book contributed something unique to my studies. All of them helped me to design a historical touring guide for cyclists. Today, I…
NEWS: While researching my 2020 guidebook, Bicycling Antietam National Battlefield: The Cyclist’s Civil War Travel Guide (paid link), I added a large number of reference books to my U.S. Civil War library. (The only downside to that is that I have run out of shelf space!) But it was only…
Armies of Deliverance by Elizabeth R. Varon provides a sweeping, comprehensive, and eminently readable introduction to the U.S. Civil War. Recently published by Oxford University Press in 2021, Varon’s bold yet unassuming 531-page scholarly tome is no endless catalog of facts and opinions. On the contrary, it is a solid…
If you can buy only one history book to prepare for your bicycle trip to Gettysburg, I recommend that you first consider your needs. Okay, that may sound obvious. But if you have never planned a historical bicycle tour, you may not know what you need. Consider these questions: Do you need…
Sometimes, the best books are written for kids but read by adults. My top pick for the simplest ever introduction to Gettysburg goes to MacKinlay Kantor. Originally written in 1952, this little classic for middle-school children survives as an accurate, high-level summary of the Battle of Gettysburg. As a former teacher and life-long…