Looking for the best Gettysburg books? Browse our list to find excellent book recommendations on the subject.
1. A Field Guide to Gettysburg, Second Edition: Experiencing the Battlefield through Its History, Places, and People (2017)
This second, updated edition of the acclaimed A Field Guide to Gettysburg will lead visitors to every important site across the battlefield and also give them ways to envision the action and empathize with the soldiers involved and the local people into whose lives and lands the battle intruded. Both Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler are themselves experienced guides who understand what visitors to Gettysburg are interested in, but they also bring the unique perspectives of a scholar and a former army officer. Divided into three day-long tours, this newly improved and expanded edition offers important…
2. Our Fathers at Gettysburg: A Step by Step Description of the Greatest Battle of the American Civil War (2017)
* * * Little Round Top, The Wheatfield, The Peach Orchard, Devil’s Den, the Railroad Cut, Pickett’s Charge — these were the turning points within the most important battle of the bloodiest war in American history. But even careful students of Gettysburg can find themselves confused when reading about, or visiting, the battlefield. Here, finally, is a convenient guide for serious student and casual visitor alike which covers the sweep of events and the geography of the battlefield, step by step. This guide will help you find all the important locales and…
3. Gettysburg (2004)
Drawing on original source material, from soldiers’ letters to official military records of the war, Stephen W. Sears’s Gettysburg is a remarkable and dramatic account of the legendary campaign. He takes particular care in his study of the battle’s leaders and offers detailed analyses of their strategies and tactics, depicting both General Meade’s heroic performance in his first week of army command and General Lee’s role in the agonizing failure of the Confederate army. With characteristic style and insight, Sears brings the epic tale of the battle in Pennsylvania vividly to life….
4. The Battle of Gettysburg (Expanded, Annotated) (2016)
Frank Haskell’s eyewitness account of the Battle of Gettysburg has been considered a classic for nearly 140 years. Haskell was not only singled out by General Hancock for praise of his actions in the battle, he was quoted in Ken Burns’ epic Civil War documentary. The Dartmouth-educated Haskell provided a compelling and exciting narrative in a long letter to his brother, written just days after the battle. First published privately by his brother in 1878 (Haskell was killed at Cold Harbor), it was later reprinted for the public. Haskell’s details are to be found nowhere else and make for a superb…
5. Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Reassessment (2019)
This is the first book-length, critical analysis of Lieutenant General James Longstreet's actions at the Battle of Gettysburg. The author argues that Longstreet's record has been discredited unfairly, beginning with character assassination by his contemporaries after the war and, persistently, by historians in the decades since. By closely studying the three-day battle, and conducting an incisive historiographical inquiry into Longstreet's treatment by scholars, this book presents an alternative view of Longstreet as an effective military leader, and…
6. Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (Vintage Civil War Library) (2014)
The Battle of Gettysburg has been written about at length and thoroughly dissected in terms of strategic importance, but never before has a book taken readers so close to the experience of the individual soldier. Two-time Lincoln Prize winner Allen C. Guelzo shows us the face, the sights and the sounds of nineteenth-century combat: the stone walls and gunpowder clouds of Pickett’s Charge; the reason that the Army of Northern Virginia could be smelled before it could be seen; the march of thousands of men from the banks of the Rappahannock in Virginia to the Pennsylvania…
7. Farms At Gettysburg (2007)
Although the Battle of Gettysburg is named for the town near which it occurred, most of the heavy fighting actually occurred on the private property of men such as Edward McPherson, Joseph Sherfy and Nicholas Codori. Their farms suffered great damage as a result of the fighting, their structures were used as hospitals and their fields were converted into graveyards. Following the battle, however, little sympathy was given to their plight and little attempt was made by state or federal authorities to compensate them for their losses. Proceeds benefit the…
8. To Be Dedicated Here;: A Novel of the Gettysburg Address (2019)
During the three days in July when North and South fought at Gettysburg, Jennie Wills and her husband David sheltered in their home like most residents of the Pennsylvania city. Following the battle, while David prepared to help dedicate the new cemetery to honor the fallen, Jennie nurses soldiers and hosts a President in her home…and finds herself forever changed by a few short months in 1863…
9. Storming the Wheatfield: John Caldwell’s Union Division in the Gettysburg Campaign (2019)
This gripping narrative is an in-depth study of the valiant men of General John Caldwell’s Union Division during the Gettysburg Campaign. Caldwell’s Division made a desperate stand against a tough and determined Confederate force in farmer George Rose’s nearly 20-acre Wheatfield. Ready for harvest, the infamous Wheatfield would change hands nearly six times in the span of two hours of fighting on July 2, becoming a trampled, bloody, no-man’s land for thousands of wounded soldiers.Smith examines the lives of the Union soldiers in the ranks—as well as leaders Cross, Kelly, Zook, Brooke, and Caldwell…
10. The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command (1997)
The Battle of Gettyburg remains one of the most controversial military actions in America’s history, and one of the most studied.Professor Coddington’s is an analysis not only of the battle proper, but of the actions of both Union and Confederate armies for the six months prior to the battle and the factors affecting General Meade’s decision not to pursue the retreating Confederate forces. This book contends that Gettyburg was a crucial Union victory, primarily because of the effective leadership of Union forces—not, as has often been said, only because the North was the beneficiary…
11. Peach Orchard: A Gettysburg Battlefield Guided Tour (2018)
“Peach Orchard: A Gettysburg Battlefield Guided Tour” is a user-friendly touring guide for walkers, hikers, drivers, cyclists, first-time visitors and armchair generals one and all oriented toward the Peach Orchard as the critical location on the battlefield. It is developed and produced by experienced Licensed Battlefield Guides at Gettysburg. Visitors often find it difficult to follow guidebooks as intended because most field guides and audio tours are inflexible and the tour stops are too lengthy. This set of guided tours fits every need to be tailored to visitors’ interests on any given day. This tour guide is…
Best Gettysburg Books You Should Enjoy
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Genesis and download some gettysburg books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
The Battle of Gettysburg
Author(s): Frank Aretas Haskell
Publisher: Blurb, Year: 2019, Size: 8 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2356023
Brandy Station and the March to Gettysburg: The History of the Confederate Invasion of Pennsylvania Before the Biggest Battle of the Civil War
Author(s): Charles River Editors
Publisher: Charles River Editors, Year: 2016, Size: 1 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2071948
The complete Civil War road trip guide : more than 500 sites from Gettysburg to Vicksburg
Author(s): Weeks, Michael
Publisher: Countryman Press, Year: 2016, Size: 13 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2089016
The Gettysburg Address: Perspectives on Lincoln's Greatest Speech
Author(s): Sean Conant
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Year: 2015, Size: 5 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 1324755
The Gettysburg Cyclorama: The Turning Point of the Civil War on Canvas
Author(s): Brenneman, Chris; Boardman, Sue; Dowling, Bill
Publisher: Savas Beatie, Year: 2015, Size: 42 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2071103
Year of desperate struggle : Jeb Stuart and his cavalry, from Gettysburg to Yellow Tavern, 1863-1864
Author(s): Akers, Monte; Stuart, Jeb
Publisher: Casemate, Year: 2015, Size: 7 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2077915
Gettysburg Replies: The World Responds to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettyburg Address
Author(s): Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation
Publisher: Lyons Press, Year: 2015, Size: 32 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2266618
Ghost Soldiers of Gettysburg: Searching for Spirits on America’s Most Famous Battlefield
Author(s): Patrick Burke, Jack Roth
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications, Year: 2014, Size: 20 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2281340
Please note that this booklist is not errorless. Some books are really hot items according to The New York Times, others are written by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.