Jeff Shaara
Gods And Generals (1996)
Author: Jeff Shaara
Genre: Historical
Plot Summary:
Jeff Shaara’s father won the Pulitzer prize in 1976 for his work entitled Killer Angels, which depicted one of the greatest battles of the Civil War the battle of Gettysburg. Inspired, I assume, by his father, Jeff has written many books depicting not only the Civil War, but also the Mexican American and World War II. The novel Gods And Generals details the beginning of the Civil War and the feelings and reasons of the some of the greatest war heroes and why some chose the Southern cause while others chose to fight for the Union side and try to keep the country from splitting. Gods and Generals is unusual because it is the first novel in the trilogy that depicts the whole Civil War, from start to finish. What makes it unusual is the fact that the second book in the trilogy was written about 20 years prior to the first, and was written by the author’s father. The whole novel is written using the perspectives of officers and generals of both sides, explaining their points of view on what happened and why. By using this literary technique, Jeff Shaara is able to create a very real understanding of the war itself and the men who died fighting it.
Geographical Setting: mostly in Virginia
Time Period: mid - 1800’s/U.S. Civil War
Appeal Characteristics:
There was a whole lot of research that went into this book which I believe is a real important appeal characteristic, especially in Historical Fiction. Those who like war strategy and tactics, controversial subjects such as slavery, Unit5ed States geography, or a keen interest in the Civil War would enjoy this book. Another appeal to this novel has to do with it’s protagonist’s, unlike most works of fiction, these people existed and each one has a very different story. Even though the plot is slow, the reader wants to continue and see what happens next. I think it is because what is being read really did happen. Another appeal characteristic that I would like to mention is the fact that each character has his own perception of God, and his hand in the war and the lives of the men.
Read-alikes: It is no surprise that the first read alike for Jeff Shaara, is Jeff himself. Jeff has written many novels about war, particularly the early wars of American history such as: the Revolutionary War, Mexican-American War, and the Civil War. His novels are extremely character driven and many of his works follow the same protagonists. Some titles by Shaara that you may want to consider are: Rise to Rebellion which is one of two novels depicting the Revolutionary War; Gone the Soldier, which is about the Mexican-American War; Last Full Measure, detailing the end of the Civil War; and To the Last Man, a novel which depicts the first World War. The second read alike comes as no surprise either, the novel Gods and Generals is a prequel to his father’s Pulitzer prize winning novel The Killing Angels. This being said, the natural readalike to Gods and Generals is his father’s novel. While the first two read alikes were easy to come up with without using any source at all the next read alike came from a list of similar authors on novelist. It is the first time this semester that my author had a read alike list on novelist. The first name given as a read alike for my author was Bernard Cornwell, who wrote a series called the Sharpe series depicting the exploits of British soldier Richard Sharpe in the Napoleonic Wars. While one of Cornwell’s novels, entitled Rebel, is the first in his Civil War series. Cornwell is a good read alike for Shaara because both men write historical fiction about past wars and their works are very character driven. Readers might also try Sharon Kay Penman. Although her novels are not centered around wars and are often about English history, like Shaara’s novels, they do focus on the people who made history such as the characters of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Thomas Becket in her novel entitled Time and Chance.
Red Flags:brief language, very graphic depictions of war and death.
|top|
|
