A book that will really stir you is "Memoirs of Service Afloat" by Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes of the CSS Alabama.

The first quarter of the book is a very compelling case for the ECONOMIC STRANGLEHOLD theory of secession and the war, and the rest reads like a very compelling travel log-- interspersed with some fighting, ship seizures and torchings, etc., of course.

Very well worth the read as well, from a gentleman/scholar officer/sailor.