The Best Holiday Gifts for the Civil War Enthusiast in Your Life
The Holiday Season is upon us. Here are my Top 5 gift ideas for the Civil War enthusiast in your life in no particular order.
Subscription to The Civil War Monitor and Civil War Times magazines
You can’t go wrong with these two fine publications. Editors Terry Johnston and Dana Shoaf regularly feature thought-provoking articles by some of the nation’s best Civil War historians and writers, along with plenty of other features. I am a regular reader of both magazines.
Library of America edition (2022) of Bruce Catton’s Army of the Potomac trilogy with an an introduction by Gary W. Gallagher
There are so many Civil War books to recommend this Holiday Season, but this one in particular makes for a great gift. Catton’s trilogy is a classic. I am now reading through it for the first time, but I suspect that even someone who read it years ago will enjoy the opportunity to revisit it. Like all LOA books this volume is sturdy and boasts an attractive cover.
The Great Tours: Civil War Battlefields with Caroline Janney and Peter Carmichael (Great Courses)
You can’t go wrong with an online course taught by Janney and Carmichael. Both are incredibly talented historians, who have spent countless hours leading tours at our nation’s Civil War battlefields. I am going to purchase this one for myself.
Gettysburg Address t-shirt from TRHistorical
A great way to show your family and friends that you are hip to one of the greatest speeches in American history. You can browse the site for other shirts as well, including Frederick Douglass, the Iron Brigade, etc.
John B. Bachelder’s Gettysburg Battlefield Map from Historic Prints
I can stare and get lost in this map for hours. This is the perfect compliment to a room full of Civil War books or office. There are plenty of other Civil War-themed maps and images that you can choose from as well.
There you go. Feel free to share your suggestions for the perfect gift in the comments section below.
I just finished my reread of Catton’s trilogy. Some of his writing is sublime, some, use of Negro and colored, to describe African Americans troops reflect the era when he wrote these.
Excellent list - I think I’ll just hand it to my husband, he never knows what to buy for me 😄 And regarding maps, I think all lovers of history must love them as well. I know I could never teach without them. When I taught social studies, I’d spread my Civil War map books out over the bed (my place to write lessons plans) and create the maps that I would then transfer to the white board as I talked about a battle. I only wish I had not taught my students in Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas about the lost cause. Guess I’ll just have to keep fighting against it in my own family. Thank you for helping me un-learn what I was taught at my mother’s knee.