Civil war buffs and general readers will enjoy reading these 5 unconventional books about the Civil War.

1. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson

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“Swanson’s Manhunt is a fascinating tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, President Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness.”

2. A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman

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Foreman offers an engaging look into the British perspective of the Civil War, an important but often ignored aspect of the conflict. Britain depended on the South for cotton; the Confederacy relied almost exclusively on Britain for guns, bullets, and ships; the Union sought to block any diplomacy between the two.

3. Justice and Vengeance: Scandal, Honor, and Murder in 1872 Virginia by Arwen Bicknell

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Bicknell explores the antebellum, wartime, and postwar events leading up to an 1872 shooting of a commonwealth’s attorney by a hellraising drunkard of equal social prominence. The trial that followed featured two Confederate generals and a former Virginia governor, and the verdict was a commentary on the concepts of honor and justice in Reconstruction-era Virginia.

4. The First Battle of Manassas: An End to Innocence, July 18-21, 1861 by John J. Hennessy

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“On July 21, 1861, near a Virginia railroad junction twenty-five miles from Washington, DC, the Union and Confederate armies clashed in the first major battle of the Civil War. This revised edition of Hennessy’s classic is the premier tactical account of First Manassas/Bull Run.”

5. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

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“Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies.”

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