47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A well-written overview of 10 major Civil War battlefields, June 25, 2006
This review is from: Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields: Discovering America's Hallowed Ground (Paperback)
"In the summer of 1964, a twelve-year-old boy followed his father across a mile of open grassy fields that separated the Union and Confederate lines at Gettysburg. They walked in the footsteps of the men who crossed this same ground on July 3, 1863, Confederate soldiers who made one of the most tragic attacks in our history. . . . That boy was me. My father, Michael Shaara, was so inspired by the experience of walking the ground at Gettysburg that he spent the next seven years writing a novel about what happened there. That novel, published in 1974, was titled The Killer Angels."
So writes the author in the introduction to Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields. He goes on to say that his father died in 1988 without being able to see the Ted Turner film "Gettysburg" (1993), which was based on The Killer Angels. But the torch of inspiration had already passed from father to son, and Jeff Shaara has gone on to write two novels, Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, which added to his father's Killer Angels, completes a trilogy of Civil War novels.
Jeff Shaara's passion for studying, and writing about, history shows no sign of abatement, for in the present volume, he guides us in discovering America's "hallowed ground" by selecting ten key Civil War Battles.
In ten chapters, Shaara discusses the battles of Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg/Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, The Wilderness/Spotsylvania, New Market, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg/Appomattox Court House. He divides each chapter into three sections: (1) "What Happened Here?"; (2) "Why Is This Battle Important?" and (3) "What You Should See?"
For Civil War buffs such as myself, this book brings back memories of battlefields visited (and I have had the privilege of visiting eight of the ten that he describes). Numerous maps and photographs scattered throughout the volume illustrate the text.
The reader revisits three beautiful battlefields: Shiloh (the Hornet's Nest, the Peach Orchard, the Bloody Pond, and the place where Albert Sidney Johnston was killed); Antietam (the Dunker Church, the Bloody Lane, and the Burnside Bridge); and Gettysburg (Culp's Hill, the Devil's Den, Little Roundtop, and the wide, open field across which "Pickett's Charge" was made.
One also reads of the terrible slaughter at Cold Harbor and in the Wilderness/Spotsylvania, especially at "the Bloody Angle"; the heroic stand of George Thomas, who earned the moniker "The Rock of Chickamauga." Chickamauga, which remains today the largest of the Civil War battlefield parks, covering nearly 5,600 acres, is a name derived from the Cherokee language, and means "River of Death"), the Crater at Petersburg, and the McLean House at Appomattox Court House, where Robert E. Lee surrender the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant.
Although not exhaustive or comprehensive (for example, battles in Tennessee (other than Shiloh)--Stones River/Murfreesboro, Franklin, and Nashville--get short shrift), Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields offers an insightful bird's-eye view of the Civil War. The best way to understand "what happened here" is to make a personal visit to these battlefields. For the armchair historian, however, this book is a welcome and fascinating guide.
Roy E. Perry of Nolensville, Tennessee (rperry1778@aol.com) is an advertising copywriter at a Nashville publishing house. He is an amateur philosopher, Civil War buff, chess enthusiast, classical music lover, and aficionado of fine literature.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Certainly Much More Than A Battlefield Tour Guide, June 18, 2006
This review is from: Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields: Discovering America's Hallowed Ground (Paperback)
Jeff Shaara opens his latest - and - Non Fiction - Civil War work with the poignant story of his first visit, at age 12, with his late Father, Michael, author of "The Killer Angels", to the Gettysburg Battlefield.
They stop before the marker where Lew Armistead fell at the very apex of Pickett's Charge, adorned with Confederate flags, and young Michael notices that his father is crying.
That visit sparked two seeds - the one Michael wrote in - and I sincerely disagree with Jeff - the SUCCESSFUL "Killer Angels" which I first read when it came out in paperback in 1974! - and the second being the legacy that Jeff carried on with after his father passed on.
In "Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields" Shaara returns with the gift of his flowing narrative in an overview of pivotal Civil War Battlefields including those he and his Father spotlighted in their fictional works (Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and Petersburg) and three in the "west" only mentioned in their works (Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chickamauga). Shaara walks over these hallowed grounds, bringing to the reader the very small things, including the spot where a Union Colonel at Gettysburg, John Brooke, marked an "X" on a stone where he had been hit, so that he would remember where it was that he had been wounded. He talks about the ranger stations, how informative and helpful the staffs are, the bookshops nearby where interested travellers can pick up additional information on the battle sites. There are also the personal poignant vignettes of the men and boys caught up in the maelstorm of battle. All written with an eloquent "you were there" feel.
I did find myself in disagreement with Shaara over his brief and almost Cattonesque contention that the fierce cavalry fight on July 3, 1863 between Jeb Stuart and George Custer 3 miles from the main battle at Gettysburg was "merely a sideshow". I think Tom Carhart has all but proven this to be a fallacy, and that Stuart's attempt to ride around the Union lines was an integral part of Lee's grand plan to sweep the Union Army off the field.
Having said that, and while also acknowledging that this work does not cover other important battlefields for reasons provided by Mr. Shaara, this reviewer does believe that this engaging and very useful Civil War Battlefield work is worth the five full-stars. A Legacy, A Labor of Love, a Historical treat useful today, and a great Father's Day Gift.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well researched, a complete package, September 7, 2006
This review is from: Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields: Discovering America's Hallowed Ground (Paperback)
Having personally visited three of this book's advertised ten sites last summer, I only wish that I would have known about this 2006 publication before I had flown away that July 4th. This is the type of material that ought to be read in the car going from one site to the next. Shaara is interesting as well as factual, and I saw nothing here that contradicted anything else I had read or observed during my time at the three parks. In fact, the information I had was confirmed in this book. Shaara includes maps of the battles--nicely done!--as well as pictures of some of the more important sites to look for. I plan to return to the south in a couple of summers so I can hit another three or four of his sites, and I definitely will be taking this book along for company.
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