The finest single-volume survey of the Civil War, complete with attention to civilian as well as military conflicts in American society. Gorgeously well written by, surprisingly, a British historian.
For all its brevity (216 pages), the best account and interpretation of how Christian ideas shaped, and were shaped by, the Civil War. Not, thankfully, a religious history or a church history, but a theological history.
Another British historian, this time a military one, whose utterly fresh-faced look at the tactics, weapons, and combat experience of the Civil War amaze on every page. Your favorite myths about rifled muskets and total war deflate like a shot balloon.
Despite the increased outflow of Civil War "social history" over the last 20 years, Mohr's book remains the model for interpreting the home-front experiences of Civil War Southerners, black and white.
Abolition's Hidden History | How black argument led to white commitment. (Books & Culture, September 1, 1999)
America's Holy War | The American Civil War was not a war about religion. Its object was not to exterminate a religious infidel, or impose religious uniformity. Yet it was a holy war. (Books & Culture, March 1, 2000)