Gods and Generals: A Novel of the Civil War: 1 (Civil War Trilogy) - Hardcover

Shaara, Jeff

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345404920 ISBN 13: 9780345404923

Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc., 1996

Synopsis

"BRILLIANT DOES NOT EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THE SHAARA GIFT. THANK GODS AND GENERALS THAT IT WAS PASSED FROM FATHER TO SON".
--Atlanta Journal & Constitution
"LIVELY, FAST-PACED . . . A worthy companion to The Killer Angels . . . Shaara brilliantly charts the war, the exploits of the combatants and their motivations. He also concisely shows how the early parts of the campaign unfolded. His accounts of the battles of Williamsburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville are exciting. . . . Though the story of the Civil War has been told many times, this is the rare version that conveys what it must have felt like".
--Chicago Sun-Times
"SHAARA'S BEAUTIFULLY SENSITIVE NOVEL DELVES DEEPLY into the empathetic realm of psycho-history, where enemies do not exist--just mortal men forced to make crucial decisions and survive on the same battlefield. . . . [He] succeeds with his historical novel through fully realized characters who were forced to decide their loyalties amid the horrors of their divided nation".
--San Francisco Chronicle
"The battle of Gettysburg featured a cast of characters dramatically and poignantly portrayed in Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels. This new novel by his son Jeff Shaara describes the interconnected paths that brought these men together at this crossroads of our history. Readers of The Killer Angels won't want to miss Gods and Generals".
--James McPherson, Author of Battle Cry of Freedom

About this title

Review:

"Powerful . . . Though the story of the Civil War has been told many times, this is the rare version that conveys what it must have felt like."--Chicago Sun-Times

"Compelling . . . a work of vivid drama and skill."--The Dallas Morning News

"[Jeff] Shaara's beautifully sensitive novel delves deeply in the empathetic realm of psycho-history, where enemies do not exist--just mortal men forced to make crucial decisions and survive on the same battlefield."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Historical detail and depth of character carry the book, which examines the viewpoints and vulnerabilities of one of the most fascinating collections of military minds ever assembled on a single battlefront."--Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Shaara has created human beings of the myths and cold facts."--St. Petersburg Times

From the Back Cover:

Here is Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a hopelessly by-the-book military instructor and devout Christian. His fierce exterior hides a compassionate soul that few - students and soldiers alike - will ever see, and he becomes the greatest commander of the Civil War. We follow Winfield Scott Hancock, a Captain of Quartermasters who is assigned command of a brigade of infantry, quickly establishing himself as one of the finest leaders in the Union army. Then there is Joshua Chamberlain, who gives up his promising academic career to volunteer for service in the new army, only to become one of the most heroic soldiers in American history. And here too is a brilliant portrait of the complex, aristocratic Robert E. Lee, who is faced with the agonizing decision of resigning from a distinguished thirty-year army career in order to defend his home, never believing until too late that a civil war would ever truly come to pass. As the war gathers momentum, Stonewall Jackson wins his reputation by a series of stinging victories over ineptly led Union forces. Lee, finally given command of the Confederate forces, recognizes that this strange, devout, and dangerous man is his greatest weapon. For a time, it truly seems as if God is on their side and that Lee will lead his army to final victory against overwhelming odds. Nowhere is this plainer than at the Battle of Fredericksburg, where, for the first time, all four men meet on the same field and experience the exhilaration and raw horror of battle from four very different points of view. But it is in the next great fight, the Battle of Chancellorsville, that Lee's brilliant strategy, and Jackson's supreme achievement, are overshadowed when Jackson ismortally wounded by his own men. This loss is the true turning point of the war. Lee now realizes that against the evergrowing numbers of Union forces, he can only win by a direct threat to Washington. So the battle-hardened armies of the Confederacy begin their fateful invasion of the North, toward an obscure crossroads in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc.
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0345404920
• ISBN 13: 9780345404923
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 512