Customer Reviews

Glory in the Name: A Novel of the Confederate Navy

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Ironclads at sea, armies moving by rail, communicating by telegraph. Rifled cannons, rifled rifles, exploding ordinance." They were all Americans, like it or not, all children of that particular genius that was America. How apt then that in less than a year of war, Americans fighting Americans, they should forever alter forever the very nature of warfare."

That paragraph, found late in this marvelous book, truly frames the story that plays out between it's covers.

It comes from a perspective that many of us find at least different and sometimes uncomfortable. It is a story of the Confederate Navy and is told with sympathy and understanding as well as painstaking historical attention to fact.

Samual Bowater, a former officer in the United States Navy has resigned his commission to return to his home, the Confederacy and seeks to help in the only way he knows how, by seeking to serve as a naval officer. He watches from a distance and paints the scene as Fort Sumter is fired on and the Civil War begins.

Robey Paine, a man of Mississippi with three sons to send to fight for the Confederacy believes that all of them have been lost in battle. A certian madness is the result, which will find him commissioning the conversion of a ship to an ironclad and leads him to the discovery that one of his som's has survived.

This is a moving story of a small part of the Civil War which shows it's horror and it's passion in way that is compelling.

Although I live in Maine, as does the author - about 25 miles from me - I was unaware of his writing until this book was recommended to my wife by an insightful bookstore clerk as a Christmas present for me. It is, I believe, the best book I have read in quite some time and it has already started me ordering other books written by James Nelson and looking forward to his next effort. I would give it ten stars if I could.

I've been a big Civil War buff for years, and usually I am wary of fiction, but Glory in the Name is my kind of Civil War fiction! The book is very well researched and historically accurate - historical mistakes put me right off a book, but I didn't find them here. Best of all, the action is fast and unrelenting,and the characters, especially Hironymous Taylor, pull you right in. I agree with what Bernard Cornwell wrote - the best Civil War noel I have read!

I couldn't wait for James L. Nelson's next book. I was even more pumped when I found out it was about the American Civil War. Nelson has given us the Revolutionary War at sea, which has been seldom written about, and also a great pirate series. Now for another nautical subject that hasn't been novelized very frequently.
Don't miss this one! It is a fabulous adventure. Being from the "North" I was a little sorry that the protaganoist was a Confederate, but Nelson is nothing if not even handed. He gives credit where credit is due and realizes that there was honor and glory as well as shame and stupidity on both sides. It is that element that makes his books both more complex and more enjoyable than your standard nautical adventure.
What also sets Nelson apart from so many historical novelists in general is a terrific sense of humor. There is blood and thunder galore, here, but also some laugh out loud moments. His characters live and breathe, and they themselves laugh as well as curse the horror and folly of war. And the main character Bowater gets into terrific situations only to think his way out of them in splendid fashion.
Nelson just gets better and better, and he started out near the top of the nautical heap, to be sure. It is such a pleasure to have a contemporary author that one can follow and whose books one can look forward to.

Most books and movies about the US Civil War focus on the Confederate cause and this book is no exception .What does set it apart from the norm however is its emphasis on the naval engagements of the war rather than the land conflict or the "causus belli".It takes as its central theme the Confederate Navy-a somewhat grandiloquent term for what after all was simply a rag tag and bobtail assemblage of ill -equipped vessels with no real hope of victory .(Please note -the above is not a derogatory remark directed at its men and leadership ,which performed miracles with little or no resources)
The protagonist is Samuel Bowater ,the scion of a wealthy Charleston family ,one that had served the USA well in the 1845 war against Mexico .Samuel has retired from the US navy but on the outbreak of the Civil War he opts to join the Confedate forces .We witness the war through Samuel's eyes from the attack on Fort Sumter to the battle of New Orleans (the naval conflict ,not the atrocity of 1812!)
Bowater's commission is the converted tugboat "Cape Fear" and we are introduced to its crew especially the roistering engineer Hieronymus Taylor whose roughneck and philandering ways conceal a cultured and refined interior -he is a musician of some note.

Alongside this tale the writer unfolds the story of the wealthy Southern family ,the Paines, whose elder son survives the battle of Manassas but is presumed dead .His grief stricken father equips a private war vessel to continue the fight against the potent and powerful Union navy
The stories eventually converge when Bowater assumes command of the ironclad built by Paine senior .
Tha action scenes are finely rendered -Mr Nelson is in the Bernard Cornwall class at descriptions of battle - and he has a deft touch at characterisation .Bowater is a well drawn hero-decisive in command ,but a well rounded man ,accomplished as an artist and music afficianodo He is however somwhat blinkered ,being taken aback when hios slave opts to join the Union cause on the eve of battle .Such touches of humanity in the hero are a great help in shaping a readers response ,making them realise the essential humanity and shortcomings of a hero .Bowater progresses from an observer of the action (witness to the attack on Sumter )to a fully engaged participant

Not least amaong the merits of the book is its quiet humour and the way it shows the war to be a transitional one -the move from sail to steam and the way the role of hand to hand ,close combat was reduced by new war technology

This is a gripping read and is unreservedly recommended to lovers of US history and naval adventure yarns

This novel is highly readable but is somewhat hampered by the second plot which is too unbelievable to be taken seriously. The author's incursion into the civil war era is to be commended, but, having read his revolutionary war naval novels, I expected more and it wasn't there. If one concentrates on the exploits surrounding Lt. Bowater, the novel reads better, though it can be tough going at times.

This is the first book in a new series about the Civil War.
The Civil War, the first war of the Industrial Revolution in this
country, was a war of transition. The massed tactics of the
Napoleonic Wars were made obsolete by the rifled musket.
The U.S. Rifle Musket Model 1861, informally known as the
Springfield, because it was made at the Springfield Arsenal
in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was also the Second American Revolution. At four thirty A.M., on the morning of April 12, 1861, a pull of a lanyard began the Civil War. That was the time it began. That was the time when Fort Sumter
in Charleston Harbor, was attacked. However, it's not about the Confederate Army. If you want to read a series about the
Confederate Army, then read John Jakes' North And South. This is a book, series, actually, about a little-known service in the Civil War, the Confederate States Navy. The CSN, according to the Historical Note at the back of the book, was
founded in February 1861, but had more ships than it did men to serve on them. Why? Very few Southern naval officers resigned their comissions, compared to their Army
brethren. This is the story of one of them. Samuel Bowater was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy until the attack on Fort Sumter. He resigned his commission in the U.S. Navy and took command of an armed tugboat, and later, an armed riverboat. Nelson covers the problems and privations of life
in the CSN. Bowater hopes that he'll be compared to the greats of naval history, including Lord Nelson, and that the
Confederate States Navy will be remembered. Well, the CSN is all but forgotten today, and the reason why is simple.
Times had changed. 1861 wasn't 1775.

A fascinating story and impossible to put down. Nelson once again spins a great yarn. Each Nelson book is better than the last. Great characters, unbelievable action sequences, and a fast, fun read. Nelson's books are truly the best of the genre, without exception. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

This book had the potential to be an American "Hornblower" but instead is a series of vignettes about the early Civil war. The main character, Lt. Bowater, barely appears in half the book. The story finally gets going in the last 100 pages, if you can stick to it that long.

James Nelson is a great story teller with a talent of being able to mix in history to come out with a great novel. Maybe by reading this would get students more interested in History.

This Civil War Novel follows Lt. Samuel Bowater threw his life changes while he captains Confederate steam ships through the early years of the Civil War's naval battles. This also depicts some of the land battles and the great loss of life on both sides. It seems that War, once it starts feeds on itself with the hatred caused from loss of family and friends.

This story also tells of the struggles of Ladies of the South and how one fell in love with Samuel and followed him across the South. This book sets up the sequel "Thieves of Mercy" which is more exciting and faster moving than this book, although this too is a good read.

James L. Nelson's period knowledge about maritime events and procedures makes this a fascinating read. I can't get enough of his captivating stories surrounding the sea. His unique perspective from the side of the Confederate Navy provides insight from a seldom used angle in Civil War reading.