Books on the Civil War for Teenagers

By the time kids enter their teenage years, they're ready to learn about complex historic events. The Civil War is in many ways pivotal to understanding American history as a whole. It's worth spending time learning not only the names and dates but the causes and effects of the war, as well as encountering individual points of view. Nonfiction gives the facts and the analysis, while fiction provides a way for teens to empathize with those who lived through this tumultuous era.

  1. Fiction and Nonfiction Classics

    • "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane is a classic of American literature and a standard entry in high school curricula across the country. Thanks to its teenage protagonist it's highly relatable for many teen readers, and its naturalistic details help bring the war to life, bloody bits and all. For nonfiction, "A Stillness at Appomattox̶1; by Bruce Catton, which won the Pulitzer Prize, recounts the final year of the Civil War.

    Contemporary Fiction

    • Teens interested in historical fiction set in the Civil War have dozens of young adult titles to choose from. "With Every Drop of Blood" by James Lincoln Collier follows a young Southern civilian captured by a black Union soldier. "Soldier's Heart" by Gary Paulsen tells the story of a 15-year-old enlistee from Minnesota. "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara is not a young adult novel per se, but it won the Pulitzer Prize and was turned into the movie "Gettysburg."

    Biographies and Memoirs

    • Many prominent men stand out in historical accounts of the Civil War, and teenagers may enjoy reading a biography or two of some of the famous figures from this era. "Lincoln: A Photobiography," by Russell Freedman, won a Newbery Medal for its visual representation of the president's life. General Ulysses S. Grant has a chance to speak for himself in his "Memoirs and Selected Letters."

    More Nonfiction

    • "Battle Cry of Freedom" by James McPherson might be intimidatingly large for some teens, but it's considered the best one-volume history in print by sources such as "Publisher's Weekly" and "The New York Times Book Review." For a more concise history targeted specifically to teens and younger readers, try Norman Bolotin's "Civil War A to Z." David Blight's "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory" explores how the Civil War was historicized by later generations of Americans, for better or for worse. "Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War" by Tony Horwitz takes that historicization process a step further, discussing Civil War re-enactors and other contemporary Southerners who nurse a passion for the Lost Cause.

    Unexpected Points of View

    • Every big historic event is experienced from multiple points of view -- and some of those viewpoints are neglected or unexpected when it comes to the usual narrative historical accounts. Not all books on the Civil War have to be about soldiers and battlefields. In "Riot," by Walter Dean Myers, a teenage girl experiences draft riots and navigates racial and class tensions in New York. "I'll Pass for Your Comrade" by Anita Silvey tells the true stories of women who posed as men so that they could become Civil War soldiers. Andrea Davis Pinkney's novel, "Silent Thunder," is narrated by two slaves on a Virginia plantation during the war.

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