Gods and Generals

The son of the late Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Shaara, Jeff Shaara, finishes his father's vision, begun in the fictionalized account of the Battle of Gettysburg, THE KILLER ANGELS. Chronologically, GODS AND GENERALS takes us from before the Civil War to the invasion of the North after the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. The characters many listeners have grown to revere are introduced here: James Longstreet, Robert E. Lee, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and Winfield S. Hancock, among others. New to this cast and appearing only in this work is Confederate icon "Stonewall" Jackson, who was mortally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville. Like his father, Shaara ably conveys the thoughts of each person as he is faced with a particular situation. Estell adds to his well-deserved reputation in this recording. He does not attempt to give each of the many characters a distinct voice. A slight shift in tone, a change of inflection, or shift in pace is all he needs to express the thoughts or mood of a character. Narrative portions are read as adroitly. M.T.F. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine

May 27, 1996
Like father, like son? The publisher is aggressively linking Shaara's first novel with The Killer Angels, the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning (1974) novel about the Battle of Gettysburg by his father, Michael Shaara (d. 1988). Indeed, the son's book is a prequel to the father's, following some of its central characters, generals all, from 1858 until 1863 and Gettysburg. The good news is that, while not matching his father's beautifully wrought prose, Shaara tells a tale impressive in its sweep, depth of character and historic verisimilitude. Generals Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Winfield Scott Hancock are back fighting for the North, and Robert E. Lee for the South. The story is told from their points of view, along with that of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Each is a reluctant warrior who emerges as a gifted soldier possessed of a strong moral conscience in a time of bitter partisanship and hatred. Because it covers five eventful years, the narrative is sometimes overwhelmed by its wealth of dramatic material; the battles, though convincingly realized, tend to blur into one another. Yet, like his father, Shaara gets deeply into the minds of his protagonists, particularly Stonewall Jackson, who, though shy and deeply religious, proved to be a brutally efficient military leader. Like father, like son? Not quite, but the Shaara genes, it seems, are in fine shape. Major ad/promo; author tour. (July) FYI: Gods and Generals will debut in Gettysburg during the July 4th week, to tie in with the annual Civil War reenactment.