GDG- Help! Need some advice..

[James Cameron]

<< Could I get some advice from you folks? I may be soon creating and then 
teaching a non-credit community college course on Gettysburg, and I am 
beginning some rather intensive study to prepare myself as best I can .. I 
have been a student of the ACW since the 60's, and my Master's is in Civil 
War studies, but most of my study up to now has been rather general in 
nature, and I've never dug as deeply into one campaign as I intend to do now 
.. I've read Coddington and Sears among others, and in my collection I have 
about 20 books directly relating to Gettsyburg .. I have in my collection 
all three Pfanz books, have used them as reference, but never read them 
through .. so a couple of weeks ago, I started working on the Day One book 
.. today I received from an online bookseller the revised edition of 
Martin's Day One book, which I think I remember GDG folks recommending 
highly, and Amazon reviewers preferring over Pfanz .. I am up to Reynold's 
death in Pfanz (I'm a slow reader,
 often stop to consider what I've read, take notes, search maps and other 
references, etc).. would it be an idea to read them both concurrently? .. or 
should I read Pfanz, then Martin, then the other two Pfanz? I have Wert's 
Day Three also, I was thinking on reading that afterwards, and then may 
re-read Coddington and so on .. any suggestions appreciated .. oh, I also 
received a couple days ago the Gettysburg Expedition Guide that Dennis 
endorsed, thinking that might be a good way to learn more about the park (I 
really hope I have the chance to spend some time in the area, if time and 
our business demands permit - it's about 200 miles from here) ... thanks! .. 
Tom Gilbert >>

Well, you've off to a good start.

For the type of course you propose, you need to give yourself a good basic 
grounding in the battle, as regards the overall flow of events, and current 
interpretations, but without getting too bogged down in the numerous 
micro-histories which have proliferated in the last 10 or 15 years.

For your purposes, I'd recommend:

1. Coddington
2. Martin on day one.
3. Pfanz on day one.
4. Pfanz on day 2.
5. Imhoff's day 2 map study, if you can find a copy.
6. Pfanz's Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill.
7. Stewart's Pickett's Charge.  An older work, but a great point of 
departure.
8. Hess' book on Pickett's Charge.
9. Desjardin's "Stand Firm Ye Boys From Maine", because (1) it's very good, 
and (2) somebody is going to want to talk about the 20th Maine.
10. Either Sears or Trudeau for a modern overview that a bit less heavy than 
Coddington.

Jim Cameron