Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg [Hardcover]

John Hough Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2009

John Hough’s superbly readable historical novel, the revealing coming-of-age story of two young brothers fighting in the civil War, evokes the hardships and camaraderie of ordinary soldiers and civilians set against the bloody drama of the battle of Gettysburg.

• Brilliant characters: raised by their abolitionist father on martha’s Vineyard, eighteen-year-old Luke and sixteenyear- old Thomas Chandler volunteer for the union. They join the Army of the Potomac in Virginia and take part in the long march north in June, 1863, to intercept General Lee. Luke writes home to rose, their black Cape Verdean housekeeper, with whom he shares a secret that Thomas discovers on the eve of the Battle of Gettysburg. The truth enrages Thomas and causes a rift between the brothers. When the battle is over, only one will survive.

• A classic in the making: Seen the Glory re-creates the Civil War experience as vividly as the classic novel The Killer Angels. The soldiers of the storied 20th massachusetts regiment, the sullen Southerners they march past, the hopeful freedmen and worried slaves, the terrified residents of Gettysburg, the battle-hardened Confederate soldiers are all rendered with brilliant realism and historical accuracy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hough's eighth book (after The Last Summer) is a dramatic and tragic tale of Civil War–era brutality and suffering as seen by soldiers, slaves and civilians, culminating at the battle of Gettysburg. Hough writes about the Civil War with a novelist's insight and a historian's eye, creating a vivid story of two teenage Massachusetts brothers, Luke and Thomas Chandler, who naïvely enlist in the Union army and end up on the killing field of Gettysburg. As privates in the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Luke and Thomas endure hunger, fatigue, illness and some hard soldiering, with the elder Luke looking after younger Thomas, though their relationship is strained due to a secret love affair that threatens the close bond they will need in battle. When they are thrown into the titanic fight at Gettysburg, they land in the middle of a firestorm of musket balls, exploding shells and the screams of the wounded and dying as Pickett's charge nearly carries away the Union center. Amid the blood and fury of battle, a tender and poignant story of idealism, love and brotherly devotion shines through. (July)
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Review

"Terrific. Hough has caught the spirit of young enlisted men in the army, and has done a splendid job of research on the Twentieth Massachusetts to get its role in the Gettysburg campaign right. It is a great read." -- James M. McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

"It reads as if you were there. Captures the chaos, excitement, brutality and nature of the battle as well as anyone has. It is the way I think a soldier in combat saw it." -- Scott Hartwig, Gettysburg Battlefield Historian

"John Hough has created a true American story, truer than our collective memory has allowed until now. For that reason it deepens our understanding of the waste and tragedy of the Civil War-and the challenge for us of living out its complicated legacy." -- Lorene Cary, author of Black Ice and The Price of a Child

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416589651
• ISBN-13: 978-1416589655
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #378,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and layered, July 5, 2009

By 

Wade Newhouse (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg (Hardcover)

John Hough's new novel is a lovely book about some fairly typical subjects (life as a young soldier during the Civil War) and some less common ones (19th century life on Martha's Vineyard and the politics of abolition as seen by teenagers). Though its subtitle calls it "A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg," readers expecting something like its distant cousin THE KILLER ANGELS will have to wait until the last fifty pages or so to get to the combat. The rest of the book is a carefully structured tale about how and why hotheaded boys get from home to battlefield and how they try to make their wartime sacrifices meaningful. Martha's Vineyard brothers Luke and Thomas Chandler have grown up with an abolitionist father and a Cape Verdean housekeeper, and they see on their isolated island a sort of microcosm for the different Northern reactions to the ongoing Civil War. When they finally enlist in 1863, the boys learn the expected lessons about the hardship of army life, the reality of death, and what it takes to learn about and get along with people from different backgrounds. Anyone who's read any good Civil War fiction will feel right at home with the protagonists' inevitable movement toward the climactic fight at Gettysburg; it is the balancing of that plotline with memories of life on the Vineyard that sets this novel apart. Hough crafts believable and sympathetic characters from many walks of life, and his colorful, evocative descriptions of hearth and home allow for a densely emotional history lurking in the memories of men who fight and die. A must-read for anyone interested in Civil War fiction or 19th-century domestic life.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful & riveting, July 17, 2009

By 

Julie Hitchings (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg (Hardcover)

From the very first scene of a runaway slave taking temporary refuge in the Martha's Vineyard home of a small town white doctor, until the heartbreaking aftermath at Gettysburg, I inhabited this beautifully constructed novel alongside the characters.
Seen the Glory is the riveting story of two young abolitionist brothers from Martha's Vineyard who join the Massachusetts 20th. It is also the parallel story of a small rural community and the little family left behind: their gentle physician father and enigmatic Cape Verdean housekeeper. The interplay between the two young brothers, in both words and gestures, is timeless. Their growth, from innocent boys in a loving abolitionist home to the hardened men they become in a war about race, is as authentic as anything I've read in fiction.
Author John Hough crafts every scene - the dappled shade of small town lanes, moths dancing in candlelight, the bloodbath of battlefields - with a watercolorist's eye and in language that evokes 19th century America, North and South. I wanted to loop back and reread scenes, just to absorb the beauty of his language.
Seen the Glory is a meticulously researched story of the Civil War, and it is a surprisingly complex love story. But the theme of growing up is just as powerfully drawn, as Luke and Thomas learn to balance ideals with reality, and that brotherhood means more than blood.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the truth of great fiction, July 6, 2009

By 

Tim Madigan "Tim scott" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg (Hardcover)

As compelling, brutal, and ultimately heartbreaking as Hough's rendering of the battle of Gettysburg, what came before is what most caused me to miss the book when I had finished. It was greatly enlightening to be privy to the details of life from that period, especially the racism of the north. And the story of brotherly love, friendship, and human decency in the midst of tragedy and horror is one I'll never forget. This book has taken a place in my list of all time favorites, next to Cold Mountain, Lonesome Dove, the Great Gatsby and Grapes of Wrath.