Last month I decided to challenge myself by reading at least one book a month that was outside of my normal reading genres. To help myself pick books, I set up the birthday challenge (link), in which I read a book by an author is having a birthday in that particular month. In February, the author was Michael Shaara and the book Gods and Generals.
Gods and Generals is a book that follows four leaders of the Civil War, looking at their lives and careers in the years leading to and the first 2 years (approximately) of the war. While the characters in the story are pulled from history (General Robert E. Lee, General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, General Winfield Scott Hancock, and Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Chamberlain), it is fiction in that the author delves more into the characters than history records. If you’re looking for an accurate history book with very detailed information about battles, then this isn’t the book for you. While Shaara does give ample information about troop movements and battles, he spends more time exploring the characters, their motivations for fighting, their family lives, and their relationships with the other soldiers.
I’m a history buff and particularly enjoy learning about the Civil War. So, I really enjoyed this book. As I read I had a strong urge to watch the movie Gettysburg, which was based on his father, Michael Shaara’s book The Killer Angels, to get the rest of the story.
Jen's Review: "Gods and Generals" by Jeff Shaara
Posted by Jessica | 2:48 PM | challenge, historical, Jen, war | 1 comments »
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So, I had to leave a follow-up to this blog. My father, who belongs to Netflix, rented Gods and Generals (the movie) for me to see. It loosely follows the book... but left too much out for my taste. I suppose if I hadn't read the book it wouldn't have bothered me so much.
Today I watched Gettysburg. I'd forgotten how long it is and how much I love that movie. I'm afraid to read The Killer Angels and ruin one of my favorite war movies.
I do have on my upcoming read list "The Last Measure" which completes the Shaara Civil War trilogy. I have it checked out right now from the library, but am not sure if it'll get read by it's due date. But I'll be sure to review it after it's been read.