Gods and Generals: A Novel of the Civil War by Jeff Shaara

The New York Times bestselling prequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic The Killer Angels In this brilliantly written epic novel, Jeff Shaara traces the lives, passions, and careers of the great military leaders from the first gathering clouds of the Civil War. Here is Thomas Stonewall Jackson, a hopelessly by-the-book military instructor and devout Christian who becomes the greatest commander of the Civil War; Winfield Scott Hancock, a captain of quartermasters who quickly establishes himself as one of the finest leaders of the Union army; Joshua Chamberlain, who gives up his promising academic career and goes on to become one of the most heroic soldiers in American history; and Robert E. Lee, never believing until too late that a civil war would ever truly come to pass. Profound in its insights into the minds and hearts of those who fought in the war, Gods and Generals creates a vivid portrait of the soldiers, the battlefields, and the tumultuous times that forever shaped the nation. Editorial Reviews 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 Publisher The Barnes & Noble Review July 1997 In 1966, Michael Shaara took his family on an outing to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to visit the historic battlefields of the Civil War. It was there that he first felt the inspiration to compose what has become one of the greatest pieces of historical fiction ever written about that great and tragic battle: The Killer Angels, published in 1975. Michael Shaara won a Pulitzer Prize for his work, and his book was the basis for the epic 1993 Ted Turner film, Gettysburg, which he unfortunately did not live to see. But there was something missing, something left unwritten. Now Jeff Shaara, Michael's son, has penned his first novel, a prequel to The Killer Angels, adding more depth to the characters his father chronicled. Jeff had a strong vision of how to make the story in his own novel blend with his father's masterpiece and an innate sense of how to make one story flow into the other. The result is Gods and Generals, proof that Jeff Shaara has inherited his father's ability to compose epic historical fiction. My father taught creative writing at Florida State University, explains Jeff, and he would be the first to tell you that you cannot teach creative writing. Inspiration comes from a very strange place, something I never understood or experienced before trying to write Gods and Generals. I still can't explain where it comes from, how the words seem to just flow. I do recall one lesson of his, however: 'Show it, don't tell it.' Indeed, the characters speak for themselves in Shaara's new novel, as the heroes ofthebattlefield from The Killer Angels - Winfield Scott Hancock, Robert E. Lee, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain - travel on the long road from Harper's Ferry to Gettysburg, where they fight to the bloody end. Gods and Generals is the story of the opening years of the war, of armies repeatedly locked in fierce struggles and stalemates, of enemies who had only a few years earlier been compatriots. The great commanders of the armies were never friends, but united forever nonetheless, as their individual stories, in the author's own words, shape the most tragic event in our nation's history. Hancock, Lee, Chamberlain - and a new character, Thomas Stonewall Jackson - all meet for the first time at the battle of Fredericksburg, where Lee's Confederate Army gains a much-needed victory. But it is in the next great battle, at Chancellorsville, that Jackson is mortally wounded and the Union gains a vital edge. The only remaining hope for the rebel army, severely outmanned, is to make a final rush on Washington. And so the march begins, across the Potomac toward the tiny town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Jeff Shaara gives the reader the background history to The Killer Angels, from the opening skirmishes at Manassas to the eve of the Battle of Gettysburg. He brings to life the scenes and characters, the colors and terrors, of the terrible yet fascinating event that was the Civil War in America. To tour the monuments erected to battle in that historic Pennsylvania town, or any town visited by the Civil War, is to feel the spirits of history, courage, and tragedy that dwell there. Michael Shaara felt it, and his passion has been successfully passed along to his son. Jeff Shaara's Gods and Generals belongs on the bookshelves of historical-fiction readers everywhere. - Shaara, whose father, Michael Shaara, won the Pulitzer in 1975 for his Civil War saga The Killer Angels, penned this prequel, which spent 14 weeks on PW's bestseller list. (May) - Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly Shaara, whose father, Michael, wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War novel The Killer Angels, proves he's a chip off the old block with this fictionalized account of life on the eve of the battle of Gettysburg. - Library Journal YAShaara has chosen four major figures of the Civil WarGenerals Lee, Jackson, Hancock, and Chamberlainand woven an excellent novel told from their individual viewpoints. The author excels at showing the personalities and lives of these key men. The central person in each alternating chapter moves the story toward the bloody battles of the Wilderness and Chancellorsville, and finally to the eve of the Gettysburg campaign. The compassion and religious convictions of Lee and Jackson are contrasted with the equally strong beliefs of Hancock and Chamberlain against secession and the destruction of the Union. All are frustrated by the political and administrative blunders that affect both armies. The author skillfully involves readers with each of the participants. Those unfamiliar with the period will appreciate the introduction and afterword that place the events within the context of the men's lives. Factual detail and deft character development create fascinating historical fiction.Barry Williams, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA - School Library Journal This Shaara is the son of Michael Shaara, author of the Pulitzer Prizewinning, best-selling novel about the Battle of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels (1974). Accompanied by vast publisher promotion, Gods and Generals is Shaara fils' homage to Shaara pere's interest in the Civil War and to the vein of superior historical fiction he mined so notably. This robust, thoughtful novel focuses simultaneously on the lives of four men who played significant roles in the military side of the Civil War in battles leading up to the great one at Gettysburg. A prequel, then, to Killer Angels, the novel follows Stonewall Jackson, Winfield Scott Hancock, Joshua Chamberlain, and Robert E. Lee from 1858 to 1863, giving the reader splendidly detailed witness to how the war drew them into commanding positions. As should be the case with good historical fiction, Shaara, in taking actual figures from the past, rekindles them; he uses the personal experiences of these four men to meaningfully explore the political and military issues of the day. An impressive achievement, sure to be a highly requested public library title. - Brad Hooper Compelling... A work of vivid drama and kill. The strength of this work is its personalization of the struggle. The action both draws in the reader and illustrates the gravity of each situation... There is also a certain poetry to Mr. Shaara's introspections and narrative. - Dallas Morning News Gods and Generals is an honorable, readable sprawl of a book... Shaara's best service in Gods and Generals is to take men who now stand as unnoticed monuments outside courthouses and humanize them. - Philadelphia Inquirer Powerful...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 is must have felt like. - Chicago Sun-Times Jeff Shaara has succeeded brilliantly. Gods and Generals is every once as fine a work as his father's was. - Detroit Free Press Shaara's beautifully sensitive novel delves deeply in the empathetic realm of psycho-histoyr, where enemies od 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 fo their dividing nation. - San Francisco Chronicle Brilliant does not even begin to describe the Shaara gift. Thank Gods and Generals that it was passed from father to son. - & Constitution Atlanta Journal First-time author Sharra comes of a distinguished lineage: His father, Michael (who died in 1988), wrote the Pulitzer Prizewinning novel The Killer Angels (1974) about the Civil War battle of Gettysburg. It's some testament to the younger Sharra's skills that his own debut, meant to be a prequel to that earlier book, can often hold its own with that work. Like Killer Angels, this new novel focuses mostly on actual figures swept up in that immense conflict: Robert E. Lee and Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson on the Confederate side, Joshua Chamberlain and Winfield Scott Hancock on the Union, most prominently. Sharra follows these figures, and a score more, from the onset of the war up to the days just before the 1863 battle at Gettysburg. (A sequel will follow the surviving characters through to the war's conclusion.) And like Killer Angels, this novel displays an impressive grasp of the particulars of the conflict. The author projects some believable, idiosyncratic life into such familiar figures as Lee and Jackson. Lee's early disbelief in the possibility of war, and his growing, almost mystical conviction in the war's necessity and outcome, are all nicely conveyed, as is Joshua Chamberlain's harsh coming-of-age in battle. Sharra is particularly good at rendering the reluctance of many of the combatants. But while this prequel offers a robust portrait of the early years of the war, it lacks something of the impact of Killer Angels. That novel's great resonance had something to do with the intense focus on just three days of battle: Gettysburg became a particularly apt metaphor for the entire conflict. This new book, by having to plod dutifully across several years of battles, seems at times more like an impressionistic work of history than a work of fiction. Still, Sharra's wonderful command of detail and his generally shrewd depiction of character make for an impressive debut. - Kirkus Reviews