Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields

April 1, 2006
Shaara is the author of two "nonfiction novels" that completed the Civil War trilogy begun by his late father, Michael, with the Pulitzer Prize-winning " The Killer Angels" (2001). Here Shaara provides a guide to 10 of the most significant Civil War battlefields. He begins with the first great bloodletting at Shiloh, and he concludes with Petersburg, a sustained seige with World War I-style trench warfare. Shaara superbly provides context for the actual battles by describing the physical settings as well as the military environment that precipitated the battles. Shaara is at his best, however, in describing the ebb and flow of the fighting. He describes in vivid--and often necessarily gruesome--detail episodes like the death of Albert Johnston at Shiloh, the famed charge of the 20th Maine at Gettysburg, and the machinelike mowing down of Union troops at Cold Harbor. The text is amply supported by maps and photos. This is an informative and moving examination of "hallowed ground" that will appeal to both scholars and Civil War buffs, especially those planning to visit these sites.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)