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Feb 2, 2012
Wow. This one rivals his father's book, "The Killer Angels". If you like Civil War history at all, if you enjoy historical fiction at all, if you just like a good book... read this one!
The story centers around four main characters; Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and Winfield Hancock. I've read several biographies of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and I believe Jeff Shaara did a fantastic job of capturing the personalities of these men. While fiction (because we don't know their exact conversations and emotions during these times), this book presents the reader with a very credible look into the experiences leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg. The places, the timelines, the people, are all real history.
"Gods and Generals" starts before the Civil War and explores the reasons why individuals chose one side or the other to support. The pain of those decisions, the uncertainty, the repercussions are all well presented. Old friendships broken apart, families separated, local allegiances tested and tried, all good grist for the story and all the more heartbreaking because it was true.
It's easy to read this book and get sucked into the characters to the point of forgetting that these were real people, faced with real situations that we cannot honestly imagine in this day and age. I will read this book again, and read the other novels in order to complete the series. I read them out of order the first time but still enjoyed each one.
The story centers around four main characters; Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and Winfield Hancock. I've read several biographies of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and I believe Jeff Shaara did a fantastic job of capturing the personalities of these men. While fiction (because we don't know their exact conversations and emotions during these times), this book presents the reader with a very credible look into the experiences leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg. The places, the timelines, the people, are all real history.
"Gods and Generals" starts before the Civil War and explores the reasons why individuals chose one side or the other to support. The pain of those decisions, the uncertainty, the repercussions are all well presented. Old friendships broken apart, families separated, local allegiances tested and tried, all good grist for the story and all the more heartbreaking because it was true.
It's easy to read this book and get sucked into the characters to the point of forgetting that these were real people, faced with real situations that we cannot honestly imagine in this day and age. I will read this book again, and read the other novels in order to complete the series. I read them out of order the first time but still enjoyed each one.
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