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 Posted: Mon Jul 14th, 2008 01:09 pm
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bschulte
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 I thought it would be fun to check out the top 10 selling Civil War books at Amazon.com this month.  McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom is there, of course, but some of the other titles surprised me.  Take your guesses in this thread and then try to see if you were right by checking out my list.
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19th, 2008 01:22 am
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CleburneFan
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 My  humble guesses, such as they are:

1. One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg--- by Eric J Wittenberg, J. David Petruzzi, and Michael Nugent

2. Company Aytch by Samuel Watkins

3. Gettysburg: Stephen Sears

4. Chancellorsville: Stephen Sears

5. The  Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command by  EdwinCoddington

6. George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan Rafuse

7. The Cavalry at Gettysburg by Edward G Longacre

8. Manhunt by James L Swanson

9. Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman

10. Memoirs by William Tecumseh Sherman

11. Atlanta 1864: Last Chance for the Confederacy by Richrad M McMurry

12. The Last Hurrah: The Battles of Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville by  Wiley Sword

Last edited on Sat Jul 19th, 2008 03:07 am by CleburneFan
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19th, 2008 01:31 am
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CleburneFan
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 My gosh! In twelve tries I guessed only one right.:shock:

What an interesting list the top Civil War best sellers are!military books for the most . I am really, really surprised what books made the list. I did enjoy one of the books mentioned (don't want to give away the name) and I also have read another  book listed, but never dreamed it would have the broad appeal of a best seller.

I wonder how many books must be sold in one month, for a Civil War book to be considered a Civil War best seller.
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19th, 2008 01:33 am
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bschulte
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 Cleburne,

Your list is similar to the type of list I would have created prior to looking into this.  You guessed one book correctly: Manhunt.  Civil War battle and campaign studies are really not at all represented in the top Civil War books in terms of bestsellers.  I was pretty surprised by this myself.  Anyone else who hasn't yet read my post care to hazard some guesses?
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19th, 2008 01:35 am
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bschulte
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 CleburneFan wrote: My gosh! In twelve tries I guessed only one right.:shock:

What an interesting list the top Civil War best sellers are!military books for the most . I am really, really surprised what books made the list. I did enjoy one of the books mentioned (don't want to give away the name) and I also have read another  book listed, but never dreamed it would have the broad appeal of a best seller.

I wonder how many books must be sold in one month, for a Civil War book to be considered a Civil War best seller.

Looks like we were posting at the same time.  :)  I unfortunately cannot answer your question.  I do not know exactly how many of each book was sold on Amazon in the last month.  If anyone else knows, I'd love to hear about it either here or in the comments of my blog entry.
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19th, 2008 03:07 am
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CleburneFan
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 I wonder why books such as those I listed--not necessarily those very ones, but classics such as those--are not on the best seller lists. It seems as if some Civil War enthusiasts prefer to avoid the stark reality of the war, the actual battles. Or perhaps the military aspects are less interesting than the sociological aspects of the times.  
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19th, 2008 04:19 am
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bschulte
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 Cleburne,

not sure. It's an interesting topic. I'm gonna try to do some research and see if I can start finding more answers to this. I suspect the general reading public doesn't have the time, patience, or concentration needed to understand the tactical details of a Civil War battle, whereas people like those who frequent Civil War Interactive love it!
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19th, 2008 09:43 pm
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CleburneFan
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 I believe you are right about the level of dedication to the actual gritty details of battles and campaigns. When I mention that I am a Civil War enthusiast, people often say they are too. Then I ask if they have read this great new book  "One Continuous Fight" or Longacre's new book on General Wheeler and their eyes just glaze over. Many people I talk with or enjoy the Civil War enjoy Civil War fiction or the beautiful coffee table pictorials.

It's all good, however. I appreciate very much anyone who has an interest in history no matter how they express that interest. As long as they do have an interest, we can hope our great battle fields will continue to be funded and that scholars will continue to do exhaustive research on the war. 
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 Posted: Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 11:39 pm
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Captain Crow
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 CleburneFan wrote:

It's all good, however. I appreciate very much anyone who has an interest in history no matter how they express that interest. As long as they do have an interest, we can hope our great battle fields will continue to be funded and that scholars will continue to do exhaustive research on the war. 
Amen to that! as long I can tromp around our nbfp's I don't care what keeps the interest alive...well unless Will Smith stars in a movie about lincoln:shock:
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 Posted: Wed Jul 23rd, 2008 12:14 am
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pamc153PA
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 I like Will Smith, but that's a scary thought! :)

I 'll admit, after I got interested in the CW, the first book I read was Shaara's book, since our 9th grade honors kids have to read it and it was handy. That only got me more interested, though, and once I started on the more "hardcore" CW books--specific battles, specific generals, specific units--I never looked back. (Although I try to point out the inconsistencies in "The Killer Angels" to my social studies colleagues whenever I can, just annoy them!) But I can see how anything history-oriented, however general and generic, is a good jumping-off point, because it happened to me!

Pam
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