Reading List

May 18, 2010

The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara

And this should be the final of these books that I will read for a while. Michael Shaara and his father, Jeff Shaara, wrote a series of three books about the Civil War. This is the last one. I already read the first two (Gods and Generals and The Killer Angels). I really like those two and so was looking forward to this one. Hey - I really liked this one also.

I now know more about the Civil War than you would ever get from high school or even college history classes. True, these are historical fiction, but I will be bet most people wouldn't even know that there was a battle called Cold Harbor, which was a perfect slaughter of union forces, or what happened at the siege of Petersburg, or even why there was a siege, or why the surrender of Lee's forces was at Appomattox Courthouse. Most people just know that sometime after Gettysburg, Lee surrendered and that ended the Civil War. Historically, I now know more than most Americans about the last two years of the war.

But of more significance is the way these three books captures the humanity - or inhumanity - of the war. It captures the people involved and how they felt. Yes, it is a dramatization, but I think Shaara did a pretty good job of really describing the feelings of the participants. It is not a Red Badge of Courage story, because it is not a story of those fighting in the front lines. It is a story of the generals - which is a remarkable view point, and probably one that is easier to fully research from the writings and discussions about those generals.

Would I recommend it - I mean all three of them - yes I would. You will enjoy the writing. You will occasionally be disturbed by the inhumanity of the war. You will occasionally be saddened by the humanity of the characters.