If you can only read one book about the Civil War, don't. This three-book set will take you deeper into the war than you ever thought possible. As the lead commentator and resident expert of Ken Burns' Civil War documentary, Foote became a bit of a celebrity a few years ago, but both the job and the fame were earned by the brilliance of these books. This is history writing at its best, and the power lies not only in Foote's remarkable understanding and exhaustive research, but in the fact that these books were written by one of our finest writers.

Chris Hodgdon