Gods and Generals

by Jeff Shaara

I use to write a brief description of the book I had read, rated it and then on to the next book. This year, I have just listed the titles on the side-bar and let it go. I have had the unusual pleasure of just being able to read as much as I want the last year since I am not working and just lay around doing nothing but reading and worrying about money etc.

What is the use of all this reading if I do not document what the book and story meant to me?

G&G was about 480 pages. As I started the book I looked to estimate how long it would take me to complete. I may not have read this book, but I started another that just did not do it for me and I have made the promise to myself not to read it just because I started it (I use to do that!)

I am not big on history and I like the way both Jeff and his father, Michael who wrote The Killer Angels, take on history with a new twist. They make it fiction. Not in a million years would I guess that I would have read either of these books. The latter won the Pulitzer in the 1970's it was so good, and it was, I read it in a day. But I deviate from G&G. Jeff is not his father and some of the people left me cold. Jeff definitely is more fascinated with the Confederate Army than the Federal Army. The Rebels are always outnumbered, under fed, have limited clothing yet fight like wildcats. It is a wonder we (as I live in the South and consider myself a Southerner) lost the war. Just think, the southern states could be a separate nation, uninvolved with the damn war in Iraq and maybe have an ample supply of gas provided by the great state of TX and the country of Mexico.

Once again, I deviate. I read this book to learn about several of the great battles that took place before Gettysburg. I did not know a lot of things, like Stonewall Jackson died as a result of "friendly fire".

Stonewall is my favorite character in the book. I find myself becoming irritated with the lack of concern .... concern it too harsh a word, the uninterested with the wounded and dead, the dying after all these battles.

I will not read another Shaara book, I will continue with my tear through all the Civil War books I can lay my hands on (I Have a pile of them at ready).

But, it was still good and I learned a lot. A whole lot about the sequence of the war and how very brave the Southerners were.