Note: Several of these books are out of print, even as paperback reprints, but nevertheless these are the very best available. Get your copy from a used-book store or through interlibrary loan. Out of print books are tagged (OoP). Look for paperback reprints of older books I have referenced, but not tagged "OoP." I have Underlined the thirteen most important books by other historians. And I have placed in appropriate categories the three available volumes of my four-volume series, Bloodstains, An Epic History of the Politics that Produced the American Civil War. These are Volume 1: The Nation Builders, Volume 2: The Demagogues and Volume 3: The Bleeding. To learn more about these two volumes click here: Look at The Nation Builders. or click here: Look at The Demagogues.
About Jefferson Davis
The Nation Builders, The Demagogues and The Bleeding by Howard Ray White
Jefferson Davis, American Patriot, 1808-1861, Hudson Strode, Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, 1955 (OoP)
Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, Hudson Strode, Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, 1959 (OoP)
Jefferson Davis, Tragic Hero, 1864-1889, The Last Twenty-five Years, Hudson Strode, Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, 1964 (OoP)
Jefferson Davis: Private Letters, 1823-1889, Hudson Strode, Da Capo Press, New York, (original by Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966), 1995, paperback
Jefferson Davis, Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his wife Varina Davis, Volume I, Reprint by The Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, Baltimore MD, originally published 1890 by Belford Co., New York
Jefferson Davis, Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his wife Varina Davis, Volume II , Reprint by The Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, Baltimore MD, originally published 1890 by Belford Co., New York
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Jefferson Davis, Volume I, (Originally published in 1881), Da Capo Press, 1990
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Jefferson Davis, Volume II, (Originally published in 1881), Da Capo Press, 1990
Jefferson Davis, American, William J. Cooper, Jr., Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2000
About Abraham Lincoln
The Nation Builders, The Demagogues and The Bleeding by Howard Ray White
Lincoln, David Herbert Donald, Simon & Schuster, 1995
Lincoln's Herndon, a Biography, David Herbert Donald, Da Capo Press, 1948 (paperback reprint)
Abraham Lincoln -- His Speeches and Writings, Edited by Ray P. Basler, Da Capo Press, An unabridged republication of the 1846 edition, paperback
Herndon's Life of Lincoln, With New Introduction by Henry Steele Commager, Da Capo Press, 1983
Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years and The War Years, Carl Sandburg, 1926-1939
About Stephen Douglas
The Nation Builders, The Demagogues and The Bleeding by Howard Ray White
Stephen A. Douglas, Robert W. Johannsen, Oxford University Press, 1973
About Charles Sumner
The Nation Builders, The Demagogues and The Bleeding by Howard Ray White
Charles Sumner, David Herbert Donald, two books combined in one paperback reprint with new introduction by the author, comprised of Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War (originally published in 1960), and Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man (originally published in 1970), Da Capo Press, 1996
About Thaddeus Stevens
The Nation Builders, The Demagogues and The Bleeding by Howard Ray White
Old Thad Stevens, A Story of Ambition, Richard Nelson Current, 1942, Reprint by Greenwood Press, 1980 (OoP)
A Review of The Political Conflict in America . . . Comprising also a Resume of the Career of Thaddeus Stevens . . . Alexander Harris, 1876, 1970 reprint by Negro Universities Press (OoP)
About Kansas Territory and Terrorism
Bleeding Kansas, Alice Nichols, Oxford University Press, 1954 (OoP)
The Secret Six, John Brown and the Abolitionist Movement, Otto Scott, Copyright 1979, Uncommon Books, Third printing, 1993, paperback
About Politics before the Civil War
The Coming of the Civil War, Avery Craven, U. of Chicago Press, 1942, 1957, paperback
Nativism and Slavery, The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850s, Tyler Anbinder, Oxford University Press, 1992, 1994 paperback edition
The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856, William E. Gienapp, Oxford University Press, 1987
About Edmund Ruffin
Edmund Ruffin, Southerner: A Study in Secession, Avery Craven, copyright 1932, 1991 printing by Louisiana University Press, paperback
About the War Between the States
The Civil War Day by Day -- An Almanac 1861-1865, E. B. Long with Barbara Long, 1971, Da Capo paperback, 1971
Stones River -- Bloody Winter in Tennessee, James Lee McDonough, The University of Tennessee Press, 1980
About Missouri
The Borderland and the Civil War, Edward Conrad Smith, MacMillan, 1927
The Fight for Missouri, Thomas L. Snead, Scribner, 1886
Turbulent Partnership,Missouri and the Union, William E. Parrish, U. of Mo. Press, 1963
About Politics after the Civil War
The Tragic Era, The Revolution after Lincoln, Claude G. Bowers, Blue Ribbon Books, New York, 1929 (OoP)
The Politicos, 1865-1896, Matthew Josephson, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, first edition, 1938 (OoP)
The Growth of American Nationality, 1492 - 1865, Fred W. Wellborn, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1943 (OoP)
The Robber Barons, Matthew Josephson, 1934, Harvest Book reprint, 1962 (OoP)
About Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland, The Man and the Statesman, Volume 1, Robert McElroy, Harper & Brothers, 1923, first edition (OoP)
About African American and Native American History
The Nation Builders by Howard Ray White
The Chronological History of the Negro in America, Peter M. Bergman, Harper & Row, New York, 1969 (OoP)
The Southeastern Indians, Charles Hudson, The University of Tennessee Press, (first printing, 1976, cloth) 1994
About General History
The Nation Builders by Howard Ray White
History of England, W. E. Lunt, Third Edition, Harper & Brothers, London, 1946 (OoP)
The Growth of American Nationality, 1492-1865, Fred W. Wellborn, The MacMillian Company, New York, 1943 (OoP)
The Complete Book of U. S. Presidents, William A. DeGregorio, Wing, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1993
About the Revolutionary War
The Nation Builders by Howard Ray White
Redcoats and Rebels, The American Revolution through British Eyes, Christopher Hibbert, 1990, Avon Books, paperback edition, 1991
About Andrew Jackson
The Nation Builders by Howard Ray White
The Life of Andrew Jackson, Marquis James, (Complete in one Volume; Part One: The Border Captain, copyright 1933; and Part two: Portrait of a President, copyright 1933) The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1938
About Sam Houston
The Nation Builders by Howard Ray White
The Raven, A Biography of Sam Houston, Marquis James, University of Texas Press, Austin, paperback reprint from 1929 first edition, 1999
About How to Study History
Historians Fallacies, Toward a Logic of Historical Thought, David Hackett Fischer, Harper, 1970
I am now shipping Bloodstains -- Volume 1: The Nation Builders, Volume 2: The Demagogues and Volume 3: The Bleeding. To view these books click here: Look at The Nation Builders. or click here: Look at The Demagogues.