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Based on meticulous research and told in the voices of characters
from both sides, this novel is Shaara at his best, writing for his
most avid readership. In April of 1862, Major General Ulysses S.
Grant of the Union forces led his troops deep into Tennessee,
setting up camp around a small log church called Shiloh. On the
morning of April 6, Confederate forces led by generals Johnston and
Beauregard launched a surprise attack on the Union Army encampment
to prevent the Union advance into northern Mississippi. Though the
Confederates held the advantage for most of the first day, Union
reinforcements arrived as evening came and launched a counterattack
on the morning of April 7, successfully forcing the Confederates to
retreat and ending what had become one of the bloodiest battles on
American soil to date.
The heartbreaking saga of the years preceding The Killer Angels
"SHAARA'S BEAUTIFULLY SENSITIVE NOVEL DELVES DEEPLY in the empathetic realm of psycho-history, where enemies do not exist--just mortal men forced to make crucial decisions and survive on the same battlefield. . . . [He] succeeds with his historical novel through fully realized characters who were forced to decide their loyalties amid the horrors of their dividing nation." --San Francisco Chronicle
Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, in the vaunted Gibraltar of the
Confederacy, a siege for the ages will cement the reputation of one
Union general - and all but seal the fate of the rebel cause. In
May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops
under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last
successfully cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants
of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's army to
retreat to Vicksburg, burning the bridges over the Big Black River
in its path.
"NEW YORK TIMES "BESTSELLER
Continuing the series that began with "A Blaze of Glory, " Jeff
Shaara returns to chronicle another decisive chapter in America's
long and bloody Civil War. In "A Chain of Thunder, " the action
shifts to the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, in
the vaunted "Gibraltar of the Confederacy," a siege for the ages
will cement the reputation of one Union general--and all but seal
the fate of the rebel cause.
In May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops
under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last
successfully cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants
of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's army to
retreat to Vicksburg, burning the bridges over the Big Black River
in its path. But after sustaining heavy casualties in two failed
assaults against the rebels, Union soldiers are losing confidence
and morale is low. Grant reluctantly decides to lay siege to the
city, trapping soldiers and civilians alike inside an iron ring of
Federal entrenchments. Six weeks later, the starving and destitute
Southerners finally surrender, yielding command of the Mississippi
River to the Union forces on July 4--Independence Day--and marking
a crucial turning point in the Civil War.
Drawing on comprehensive research and his own intimate knowledge
of the Vicksburg Campaign, Jeff Shaara once again weaves brilliant
fiction out of the ragged cloth of historical fact. From the
command tents where generals plot strategy to the ruined mansions
where beleaguered citizens huddle for safety, this is a panoramic
portrait of men and women whose lives are forever altered by the
siege. On one side stand the emerging legend Grant, his irascible
second William T. Sherman, and the youthful "grunt" Private Fritz
Bauer; on the other, the Confederate commanders Pemberton and
Joseph Johnston, as well as nineteen-year-old Lucy Spence, a
civilian doing her best to survive in the besieged city. By giving
voice to their experiences at Vicksburg, "A Chain of Thunder"
vividly evokes a battle whose outcome still reverberates more than
150 years after the cannons fell silent.
Praise for "A Chain of Thunder"
" Jeff] Shaara continues to draw powerful novels from the bloody
history of the Civil War. . . . The dialogue intrigues. Shaara
aptly reveals the main actors: Grant, stoic, driven, not given to
micromanagement; Sherman, anxious, high-strung, engaged even when
doubting Grant's strategy. . . . Worth a Civil War buff's
attention."--"Kirkus Reviews"
" "
"Searing . . . Shaara seamlessly interweaves multiple points of
view, as the plot is driven by a stellar cast of real-life and
fictional characters coping with the pivotal crisis. . . . A]
riveting fictional narrative."--"Booklist"
"Shaara's historical accuracy is faultless, and he tells a good
story. . . . The voices of these people come across to the reader
as poignantly as they did 150 years ago.""--Historical Novels
Review"
"The writing is picturesque and vibrant. . . . an] engrossing
tale.""--Bookreporter"
In Rise to Rebellion, bestselling author Jeff Shaara captured the origins of the American Revolution as brilliantly as he depicted the Civil War in Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure. Now he continues the amazing saga of how thirteen colonies became a nation, taking the conflict from kingdom and courtroom to the bold and bloody battlefields of war.
It was never a war in which the outcome was obvious. Despite their spirit and stamina, the colonists were outmanned and outfought by the brazen British army. General George Washington found his troops trounced in the battles of Brooklyn and Manhattan and retreated toward Pennsylvania. With the future of the colonies at its lowest ebb, Washington made his most fateful decision: to cross the Delaware River and attack the enemy. The stunning victory at Trenton began a saga of victory and defeat that concluded with the British surrender at Yorktown, a moment that changed the history of the world.
The despair and triumph of America’s first great army is conveyed in scenes as powerful as any Shaara has written, a story told from the points of view of some of the most memorable characters in American history. There is George Washington, the charismatic leader who held his army together to achieve an unlikely victory; Charles Cornwallis, the no-nonsense British general, more than a match for his colonial counterpart; Nathaniel Greene, who rose from obscurity to become the finest battlefield commander in Washington’s army; The Marquis de Lafayette, the young Frenchman who brought a soldier’s passion to America; and Benjamin Franklin, a brilliant man of science and philosophy who became the finest statesman of his day.
From Nathan Hale to Benedict Arnold, William Howe to “Light Horse” Harry Lee, from Trenton and Valley Forge, Brandywine and Yorktown, the American Revolution’s most immortal characters and poignant moments are brought to life in remarkable Shaara style. Yet, The Glorious Cause is more than just a story of the legendary six-year struggle. It is a tribute to an amazing people who turned ideas into action and fought to declare themselves free. Above all, it is a riveting novel that both expands and surpasses its beloved author’s best work.
The American Revolution is brought to life with this saga of the
men who forged the destiny of a nation. This BOMC and History Book
Club Selection reveals how philosophers became fighters, how ideas
became their ammunition, and how a scattered group of colonies
became the United States of America.
"BRILLIANT DOES NOT EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THE SHAARA GIFT. THANK GODS AND GENERALS THAT IT WAS PASSED FROM FATHER TO SON." --Atlanta Journal & Constitution
"LIVELY, FAST-PACED . . . A worthy companion to The Killer Angels . . . Shaara brilliantly charts the war, the exploits of the combatants and their motivations. He also concisely shows how the early parts of the campaign unfolded. His accounts of the battles of Williamsburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville are exciting. . . . Though the story of the Civil War has been told many times, this is the rare version that conveys what it must have felt like." --Chicago Sun-Times
"SHAARA'S BEAUTIFULLY SENSITIVE NOVEL DELVES DEEPLY into the empathetic realm of psycho-history, where enemies do not exist--just mortal men forced to make crucial decisions and survive on the same battlefield. . . . [He] succeeds with his historical novel through fully realized characters who were forced to decide their loyalties amid the horrors of their divided nation." --San Francisco Chronicle
"The battle of Gettysburg featured a cast of characters dramatically and poignantly portrayed in Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels. This new novel by his son Jeff Shaara describes the interconnected paths that brought these men together at this crossroads of our history. Readers of The Killer Angels won't want to miss Gods and Generals." --James McPherson, Author of Battle Cry of Freedom
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