The Smoke at Dawn

June 30, 2014
Shaara's third volume of four focusing on the "âWestern' theater of the Civil War," after 2013's A Chain of Thunder, is a top-notch war novel. As in his previous books, whether about the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, or the two World Wars, he manages to make the minutiae of troop deployments and battlefield tactics absorbing even for the non-buff. This series is especially appealing for its look at an obscure yet crucial juncture: the 1863 "campaign around Chattanooga," which here is portrayed as a bellwether of the Confederacy's ability to prevail in the wider conflict. Along well-known figures such as Grant and Sherman are involved, Shaara primarily enables the reader to experience the hell of war through the lower ranks, such as sniper Fritz Bauer. As with the best historical war novels, knowing the ultimate outcome of the bitter fighting is not a bar to engagement.

June 1, 2014
Shaara's third installment of a four-volume set, taking place in the often neglected western theater of the Civil War, continues to shine a light on a number of the grittiest campaigns and battles of that horrendous conflict. The dramatic events taking place around Chattanooga in the fall of 1863 are chronicled through the eyes of both historical and fictional characters involved in the planning and execution of a series of pivotal martial maneuvers. Under siege at Chattanooga, several Federal armies under the brilliant leadership of the recently promoted Ulysses S. Grant combine in an effort to break the Confederate stranglehold on their critical supply lines, as the fates of both the Union and the Confederacy hang in the balance. Shaara's mastery of military tactics, his intimate grasp of history, and his ability to interweave several supporting narratives into a cohesive and digestible whole as he revisits a catastrophic period in U.S. history will appeal to a broad range of historical- and military-fiction fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)