The story of Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine's heroic bayonet charge on Little Round Top fascinates people the world over. It contains all the aspects of epic legend: the hero, the great battle and test of courage, and the against-all-odds victory over the unconquerable. His adventures spark the imagination until Chamberlain is transformed into a modern-day Achilles, or Odysseus, on a glorious quest. Was Joshua Chamberlain, the eldest in a family of five, the only one of his siblings destined for greatness? Did the other Chamberlains exist only in the shadow of their brother's extraordinary life? In The Chamberlains of Brewer these questions are raised and expertly examined as the story of an exceptional family, living in tulmultuous times, unfolds. The Chamberlain siblings:
Sarah - the only sister, and the "glue" that held the family together.
Horace - the brother loved by all, whose tragic, early death left the family devastated.
John - the pacifist who never drew his hand against his fellow man, yet died a casualty of the Civil War.
Tom - the adventurer, for whom the war ended before his greatness could be fully realized.
