Gods and Generals

Gods and Generals – by Jeff Shaara

This book is a prequel to Michael’s Shaara’s (Jeff’s deceased father) The Killer Angels. That book was a Civil War novel about the Battle of Gettysburg that also went on to be a high grossing film. From what I understand, the movie that this book is based on wasn’t very well received, so it’s possible you never saw it – or maybe even heard of it. I haven’t read any Shaara books before this one. This book was good in many aspects, but I also found it a bit lacking in places.

This story begins in the days leading up to the Civil War and concludes roughly three years later before the Battle of Gettysburg. Our story focuses mainly on two officers from each side of the war. On the Confederacy, we have General’s Lee and Jackson. On the Union – Hancock and Chamberlain. It should be pointed out the Joshua Chamberlain was, in fact, a Colonel. It’s fortunate that he’s included because I felt his story was the most interesting of the four.

In many ways, that’s really what this book is – a character study. It tries to go in depth of the lives of these four men. Since they’re on the battlefield during most of the story, their tales are rather introspective. We’ll read a chapter, for example, where General Lee is sitting on a stoop in between battles doing nothing but thinking of home. Such interludes can wear thin after a while. Unfortunately, when our main characters aren’t thinking, they’re “fighting”. I say “unfortunately” because I don’t really enjoy reading books (or chapters in books) that focus exclusively on a battle. Some of the best military/war books I’ve read are when most of the action takes place OFF the battlefield (see W.E.B. Griffin’s Brotherhood of War series). I tend to be in the minority, however. Such detail in a book doesn’t seem to bother most readers, so it’s quite possible you won’t be bothered by this as much as I was.

To each their own, however. Many seem to enjoy both son (Jeff) and father’s (Michael) books, so you might enjoy it slightly better than I did. There were good parts, I felt, but I felt it was a bit weighed down too much in the areas I mentioned. I will say that Shaara does an excellent job  portraying the character’s feelings and their reasons as to why their fighting on a particular side. It’s well known, for example, that Robert E. Lee was offered command of the Union army when the conflict broke out, yet turned it down as he felt his loyalties should like with his home state of Virginia.

It also should be pointed out that much of the stories told between the battles are speculation. Shaara uses creative license when detailing conversations between many of the principals, so some hardcore historians may tend to cry ‘foul’, but this never bothered me. I felt that I knew these men much better after reading this novel regardless as to how exact the tale was when compared to the facts.

Most that have read the book stated they enjoyed it overall, but felt it wasn’t quite as good as his father’s ‘The Killer Angels’. Such comparisons are usually inevitable whenever a new author takes over from a deceased author – especially when the two are related.  I imagine most, like me, will enjoy it even if you may be left with some reservations.