Gods and Generals

“The army was led not by symbols, but by the fallible egos and blind fantasies of men.”

2.5/5⭐

Jeff Shaara’s book begins with rumor and anger, boils over into war, then trudges along—bloody battle after bloody battle—until it stops just before the battle of Gettysburg (Jeff’s father had written the Pulitzer prize winning book ‘Killer Angels’ on that battle, years before).

On one hand, Shaara lives up to his father’s legacy, writing impressive battle scenes, somehow making the complex movements of thousands of soldiers and dozens of official’s names clear and vivid. He gives realistic descriptions of the horror of war: the long marches, the confusion, the hunger, the violence. It all comes through in terrible clarity.

On the other hand, the depth of the characters was woefully unbalanced. Shaara spends ample time with Lee and Jackson, the famed Confederate leaders, diving into their psyche, ruminating on their faith, their families, and their intense sense of duty. By the end of the book, both characters are well fleshed out, complex, and intriguing.

The Union characters, though, are written with a frustrating lack of depth. For the full second half of the book Chamberlain and Hancock are allowed only two emotions: confusion or anger. The rotating door of incompetent Generals leading the Union takes up all their thoughts, which leaves no room for reflections on duty, faith, family, or anything else that might give them depth.

Why were these Union men fighting? How do they feel about it? What drives them? Shaara seems uninterested in answering these questions.

This book claims to convey to readers what it must have felt like to be there at the time, making those decisions. But in my reading, any discussion of the WHY of the war was brushed over or talked about in abstraction. Slavery is mentioned only once, and for less than a page. ‘God’s will’ is referenced frequently by the Confederates, but exactly what that ‘will’ may be, and why they feel duty bound to it, is left largely unanswered.

Some underline-worthy quotes:

“Pointing fingers become pointing guns, because nobody listens to fingers."

“God does not change our course, that is for us to do.”