Antietam (The Civil War Battle Series, Book 3) [Hardcover]

James Reasoner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000

ANTIETAM, by best-selling author James Reasoner, is the third of eight installments in the historical tale of the fictional Brannon family. As Union and Confederate soldiers wage battle on Virgina, it appears that Richmond is doomed. In ANTIETAM, Mac and Will Brannon are united on the front and they experience the change of fortune for the South: General Lee takes over the Confederate cause and later leads his troops to battle against McClellan near the town of Sharpsburg.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this third installment (Manassas; Shiloh) of his Civil War series, Reasoner (Walker, Texas Ranger), moves the focus of his novel back to Virginia and his Culpepper County family, the Brannons. In this episode, two of the older brothers, Will and Mac Brannon, carry the main plot as they serve with Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart, respectively, and march their way from the startling defense of Richmond during McClellan's abortive "Peninsula Campaign," on through Lee's disastrous foray into Maryland and the bloody battle of Antietam. The subplot centers on yet another Brannon brother, Titus, and his beloved, Polly Ebersole, as well as on the Brannon sister, Cordelia, and her star-crossed love for her friend Nathan Hatcher, who goes off to fight for the Union. Like its predecessors, the novel moves forward with alacrity and excellent pacing, punctuated by battles, skirmishes and romantic encounters aplenty. Reasoner's research is sound and his historical details accurate, though he shies away from depicting the violence and horror of combat. The usual cast of Civil War characters--irascible sergeants, incompetent officers and, of course, the innocents caught in the path of the fighting--play supporting roles. Although cameos of Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, Robert E. Lee and others come off more like caricature, the Brannons themselves are capably drawn. Anachronistic language and inner thoughts mar the book's credibility, but generally Reasoner skirts sensitive issues and keeps his focus on military history. Highly suitable for younger readers, the novel tells an entertaining and informative story, and sets up another installment--possibly Gettysburg? (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The bloody fields of Antietam provide the dramatic setting for the third installment of Reasoner's eight-volume Civil War Battle series featuring the Brannon clan of Culpepper County, Virginia. As the hostilities move ever closer and finally threaten the security of the family farm in northern Virginia, each of the six Brannon siblings is faced with an inevitable crisis of either the heart or the conscience. Even widowed Abigail Brannon, the stalwart matriarch of the feisty tribe, finds herself being irresistibly drawn into the throes of a budding romance as her family struggles for survival. When the Confederate and Federal armies meet at Antietam Creek, brothers Will and Mac Brannon reunite, bearing witness to one of the bloodiest day of the war. Fraught with passion, tension, and tenderness, this enthralling family saga will appeal to fans of epic well-researched historical fiction. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 383 pages
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581820844
• ISBN-13: 978-1581820843
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,264,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A lifelong Texan, Reasoner has been a professional writer for more than thirty years. In that time, he has authored several hundred novels and short stories in numerous genres. Best known for his Westerns, historical novels, and war novels, he is also the author of two mystery novels that have achieved cult classic status, Texas Wind and Dust Devils. Writing under his own name and various pseudonyms, his novels have garnered praise from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as appearing on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. He lives in a small town in Texas with his wife, award-winning fellow author Livia J. Washburn.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great buy!, May 18, 2000

By 

Stephen Lawwell - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antietam (The Civil War Battle Series, Book 3) (Hardcover)

As a student of the War's history, I am very hesitant when purchasing books of this nature. Many times the author sacrifices historical accuracy for a good story. This is not the case with Mr. Reasoner. I have found his books in this series very informative, enjoyable, and easy to read. I have purchased all three of the Battle Series releases and I am looking forward to #4.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Antietam???, December 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Antietam (The Civil War Battle Series, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Sorry, but I can't agree with other reviewers who say this is a "great" book. Of 358 pages, only 12 actually deal with the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War. I'm no historian, but I know something of that battle and think that, even for an historical novel, Reasoner treats Antietam with too little regard for what it meant to the whole of the war.

While the book is a good read, its title is misleading.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Brannon family during the Civil War in 1862, April 13, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Antietam (The Civil War Battle Series, Book 3) (Hardcover)

The main problem with James Reasoner's "Antietam," Book 3 in "The Civil War Battles Series," is the same as its companion volumes. The book is not ABOUT the Battle of Antietam, but rather it ENDS with the Battle of Antietam. Ironically, of all the battles covered in this volume--Stonewall Jackson's campaign in the Shenandoah, the Battles of the Seven Days during the Peninsula Campaign, the Second Battle of Manassas--Antietam probably receives the least amount of space. However, with the Civil War in full swing "Antietam" certainly offers more war and less soap opera than the first volume, "Bull Run." The happenings back on the Brannon family farm in Culpeper County, Virginia is fitting reduced to a minor subplot, although the romance between Titus Brannon and Polly Ebersole takes some surprising turns. More intriguing are the feeling of Cordelia's beau, Nathan Hatcher, who refuses to join the Confederate army and fight for a cause he cannot support. But the focus of Reasoner's novel are the two oldest Brannon brothers, Will and Mac.

Reasoner takes full advantage of these two siblings in terms of where he positions them to allow us to watch the war in 1862. Will is a Captain, commanding a company in the Stonewall Bridge, part of Jackson's fabled "foot cavalry." In "Antietam," Mac finally joins up with Jeb Stuart's cavalry, where he has the fortune of being the aide of Fitzhugh Lee. Consequently, the Brannons have a chance to witness many of the pivotal moments in the Eastern Theater of the War. These books do not have a lot of historical detail of the sort that would warm the hearts of Civil War reenacters, but Reasoner certainly provides a swiftly paced narrative. The soap opera elements that overwhelmed the first book in the series has been modified, although there is still a chance encounter on the battlefield and a hint of something extremely wrong between Polly and her father. This is not a great novel of the Civil War, but it is reasonably entertaining and certainly integrates the events of 1862. The section on Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign is probably the best in the book. I am looking forward to the rest of the series and wondering how many of the Brannons will make