Gods and Generals (The Civil War Trilogy #1) by Jeff Shaara

In a prequel of sorts to his father Michael Shaara's 1974 epic novel The Killer Angels, Jeff Shaara explores the lives of Generals Lee, Hancock, Jackson and Chamberlain as the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg approaches.

Here is Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, a hopelessly by-the-book military instructor and devout Christian. His fierce exterior hides a compassionate soul that few—students and soldiers alike—will ever see, and he becomes the greatest commander of the Civil War. We follow Winfield Scott Hancock, a Captain of Quartermasters who is assigned command of a brigade of infantry, quickly establishing himself as one of the finest leaders in the Union army. Then there is Joshua Chamberlain, who gives up his promising academic career to volunteer for service in the new army, only to become one of the most heroic soldiers in American history. And here too is a brilliant portrait of the complex, aristocratic Robert E. Lee, who is faced with the agonizing decision of resigning from a distinguished thirty-year army career in order to defend his home, never believing until too late that a civil war would ever truly come to pass.

But it is in the next great fight, the Battle of Chancellorsville, that Lee’s brilliant strategy, and Jackson’s supreme achievement, are overshadowed when Jackson is mortally wounded by his own men. This loss is the true turning point of the war. Lee now realizes that against the ever-growing numbers of Union forces, he can only win by a direct threat to Washington. So the battle-hardened armies of the Confederacy begin their fateful invasion of the North, toward an obscure crossroads in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg.

I can’t say enough good about this book. Beautifully written, it draws you into the lives of the men on both sides of the conflict. Its main focus is on four men: Hanock and Chamberlain for the North, Lee and Jackson for the South.

All four men are so convincingly drawn that, while I rooted for Hancock and Chamberlain, I regretted Jackson’s fate, even though it helped advance the Union’s cause. But any regret was tempered by what he and his compatriots were fighting for. They may have been flamboyant, but they were still wrong.

Not so my admiration for some, but definitely not all, of the North’s leaders, especially Joshua Chamberlain. A professor by trade, he was a perfect fit for the job he volunteered for.

The book also brought understanding as to how the war was carried out, and how the North’s victory was almost inevitable. Better supplied, better armed, and able to call up a vast amount more men, it appeared that the war dragged on as long as it did because of the ineptness of the Union army’s leaders, especially Hooker. But Gettysburg would change all that, the beginning of the end of the South’s chances of winning.





Mount TBR 2018 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.


1. ReDeus: Divine Tales
2. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
3. The Exodus Quest
4. Troy: Shield Of Thunder
5. Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph
6. Hyperion
7. Thin Air
8. Gods and Generals