Gods and Generals
by Jeff Shaara

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Book Reviews of Gods and Generals

Book Review: A huge disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars

The beginning descriptions are also not very good. Instead of the single short, but telling paragraph about the major characters, there are huge biographies of the four main characters: Chamberlain, Jackson, Lee and Hancock. Although they are more informative, they really don't give that much more, and perhaps even less, insight than the single paragraphs did.

KA took place over a span of a few days, covering a single battle in great detail. G&G begins in the late 1850's and ends right before Gettysburg. Because of this, the book is about twice as long as KA and has a large cast of easily confused and usually minor characters.

Because of the huge length of G&G, a battle usually gets only a few chapters (if that). To make things more confusing, an enormous cast of generals seem to be moving various brigades/divisons/corps all over an unclear battlefield. In KA, a lot of that was solved by the heavy use of maps. In G&G, there aren't any maps to show the positions and the lay of the land, although there are in "The Last Full Measure."

Another huge problem I had with this book are the characters. They all act like clones on ritalin. If they didn't tell you who the characters were, you'd probably get them all mixed up. Also, none of them have the charisma to command your admiration, compassion, etc, etc. Sure there are some slight differences, but nothing like the dynamic characterizations from KA. And from what I've heard about Jackson, even from KA, the character in G&G is a pale shadow of the sinister mark he left in everyone's memory.

Beyond that, the structure isn't terribly good. The beginning, about the years before the war, is so incredibly dull that almost anyone would want to stop reading it. The concept of having John Brown's capture by Lee is intriguing to say the least, but it isn't very pracctical. It was a little interesting to see how these people lived before the war divided them, but it could have been less than the 200+ pages devoted to the pre-war period that are in this book. Also, Chamberlain is in one beginning chapter, and then he disappears for a really long time.

One of the biggest disappointments for me was that none of the characters from KA had very big roles, except for Lee and Chamberlain. Even Hancock had a relatively small role in KA. Stuart, Pickett, Buford, Tom Chamberlain, Garnett, Armistead, Longstreet, Hood and Hill are mentioned, but none of them have very major roles. (On a nitpicker's note, I'm pretty sure Hood was described as dark and lean in KA, but he is suddenly a bulky blond in G&G.)

That leads into a few more unexplained mysteries of G&G. In KA, they made a mention of Buford heroically holding off a huge army with his small cavalry force, but that whole, possibly exciting part gets a whole paragraph in G&G. And for some bizarre reason, Jackson is in Bull Run, but they decide not to show how he proves himself to be a "Stone Wall", and instead have Lee and Jefferson Davis riding around and hearing rumors. Another thing I wanted to find out was more detail on the terrible mistake that destroyed Garnett, and even though Jackson was supposedly barking mad with him, it doesn't even get a passing mention.

However, to Jeff Shaara's credit, "The Last Full Measure" showed great improvement. And to be fair, KA would be really hard for anyone to measure up to. If you give this book time, it does start to pick up, especially during the battle scenes. However, it is not necessary reading for people who loved KA (like I did), as it isn't much of a prequel, but more of a remake set earlier.

Summary of Gods and Generals

Historical Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical
• War