Deep Dive | America 250
American Civil War
January 2026
Eager to learn more about U.S. History and the America 250 celebration? Carefully curated by local historians and academics, these modules (one for each month of the America 250 celebration) will offer a deep dive into various periods of U.S. History. These recommendations are offered as a free and optional resource with a corresponding list of books, podcast episodes, documentaries, and more that explore themes and specific timeframes within the history of our nation.
Please note: These resources are offered as an optional learning opportunity and are not a required part of any America 250 programs. All reading and viewing materials are optional and meant to enrich your personal learning experience. Some topics may be thought-provoking or sensitive, but all have been curated with care and respect. We invite you to engage with what interests you and explore at your own pace as we commemorate our nation's past.
These Deep Dives continue in the month of January with a look at the American Civil War.
Thank you for joining us!

GENERAL INTEREST BOOKS
- Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, Erik Larson
- Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War - Elizabeth Varon
- Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era - James M. McPherson
- Smithsonian Civil War: Inside the National Collection
- The Portable Frederick Douglass
DEEP DIVE
- A Worse Place than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation - John Matteson
- The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics - James Oakes
- The Women’s Fight: The Civil War’s Battles for Home, Freedom and Nation - Thaviola Glymph
- This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, Drew Gilpin Faust
- Reconstruction; America’s Unfinished Revolution - Eric Foner
- Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln - Doris Kearns Goodwin
- An Environmental History of the Civil War - Judkin Browning & Timothy Silver
KIDS & YOUNG ADULTS
- The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation, Jonathan Hennessey
- The Civil War Visual Encyclopedia
- If You Were a Kid During the Civil War - Wil Mara
- The Civil War for Kids: A History with 21 Activities - Janis Herbert
- Spies in the Civil War for Kids: A History Book- Daniel Lewer
LITERATURE & HISTORICAL FICTION
- The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane
- The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead
- Tales of Soldiers and Civilians: and Other Stories - Ambrose Bierce
- Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War: Civil War Poems - Walt Whitman
- Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
- The Civil War: A Narrative - Shelby Foote
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
- The Killer Angles - Michael Shaara
- A Diary from Dixie - Mary Chestnut

- Lincoln (2012) PG-13
- Gettysburg (1993) PG
- Gods and Generals (2003) PG-13
- Glory (1989) R
- Gone with the Wind (1940) NR
- Ride With the Devil (1999) R
- Free State of Jones (2016) R
- Cold Mountain (2003) R
- Red Badge of Courage (1951) NR
- Andersonville (1996) NR
- The Man From Colorado (1949) NR
- The General (1927) 7+
- The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998) NR



- Gettysburg Address- Abraham Lincoln (1863)
- What to the Slave is the Fourth of July ( 1852) - Frederick Douglass
- Alexander Stephens on Slavery and the Confederate Constitution, 1861
- William Henry Singleton, a formerly enslaved man, recalls fighting for the Union, 1922
- Poem about Civil War Nurses, 1866
- Civil War songs, 1862
- Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, 1865

- The Three Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West - Megan Kate Nelson
- This Abominable Slavery: Race, Religion, and the Battle over Human Bondage in Antebellum Utah, W. Paul Reeve
- Saints and the Union: Utah Territory and the Civil War - E.B. Long
- Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory, Brent M. Rogers
- The Civil War in Utah
- Utah and the Civil War - Utah Historical Quarterly
- Utah and the Civil War Monument
- Civil War Saints - Kenneth L. Alford
- A Question of Loyalty: Utah & the American Civil War