apparently my parents think my knowledge of the Civil War is lacking

This despite naming our son after the President who led us through the mess. Geez. No, great gift. It's the Shelby Foote series. I enjoyed him in the Ken Burns' documentary. In his forward to the series of books, he said he was originally commissioned to write a SHORT account of the Civil War. Not even the long-lost Wordperfect's great "make it fit" feature could fix that overshoot.