Book Review: Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara

In 1974, Michael Shaara published The Killer Angels, a magnificent novel of historical fiction about the fateful American Civil War battle of Gettysburg. It was so well-received, this tale of the men involved – Lee, Longstreet, Chamberlain – that it won the Pulitzer Prize, and was the basis for the well-received 1993 film Gettysburg.

Michael Shaara died before he could turn his attention to any further novels on the Civil War, but his son, Jeff, was able to pick up the mantle where his father left off, and the result is Gods and Generals, the story of those three main Gettysburg men, as well as the fiery Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, and a handful of other men on both sides, including Winfield Hancock.

The younger Shaara’s writing style takes a certain amount of getting used to, and his frequent – like, every second paragraph, it seems – use of ‘…’ is infuriating at times, you…have…no…idea how frustrating it is! Those minor things aside, Gods and Generals is brilliant. Beginning the summer before the war, and leading right up to the eve of the fateful clash of the Union and Confederacy at Gettysburg, Shaara has followed in his father’s footsteps, giving us a window into the minds of some very important men, based on extensive research.

A lot of the decisive early battles of the war are covered – Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville – but the fact that the book focuses on high-ranking officers means that the battle scenes don’t exactly jump off the page at you with their ferocity the way a Bernard Cornwell Sharpe novel might. Shaara’s later works, where he follows a foot soldier of some description takes those books closer to the teeth of battle than his earlier work does.

That said, Shaara does wonderful work describing the famous friendship between Lewis Armistead and Winfield Hancock and how tough it is for the two to go their separate ways south and north. Lee’s inner turmoil over disappointing his mentor, Winfield Scott, in order to serve his homeland of Virginia is apparent. The chapters with Jackson are some of the very best in the book.

All told, Shaara succeeds nicely at must have felt like a hugely daunting task. You feel like you know all the great men of history that he brings to life. Gods and Generals is a great read.