Promise of Glory

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre novel of the battle of Antietam
Review: My favorite novel, all time, is The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. There have been other good Civil War novels written: Tom Wicker's Unto this Hour comes to mind, and Richard Slotkin's The Crater. There's even several detective series set in the Civil War. So good fiction writing on the subject isn't that hard to find. Unfortunately, Promise of Glory doesn't stand up to well to the competition.

The novel starts with the Confederate army crossing the Potomac, then the obligatory "Look what I found!" scene where the Yankees find Lee's famous lost order (no explanation of how it was lost), then turns to the battle of South Mountain, and soon to Antietam, which occupies the last half of the book, approximately. The book recounts the campaign overall, and the battle also, following various soldiers on both sides into and out of combat. This works, sort of, but there are several problems with it, in addition to genuine flaws where the author apparently doesn't know things he should.

One problem is that while on the Confederate side, the author follows Lee, Longstreet, and Jackson, primarily, on the Northern side, he follows McClellan, and Porter (who's basically McClellan's toady). He has scenes with various other Union generals---Jesse Reno, who gets killed at South Mountain, Israel Richardson, ditto in front of the sunken lane, Hooker, who gets wounded leading his attack, etc. Since everyone that he picks gets wounded or killed, it's kind of disconnected.

Second, there are problems with the characters themselves. Lee and Longstreet are pretty much completely out of either the movie Gettysburg, or the book The Killer Angels upon which it was based. Lee even calls Longstreet Peter. His nickname was Pete, and Lee always called him "My Old Warhorse." The only place I've ever seen him called Peter is in, you guessed it, The Killer Angels. And there's the whole Longstreet is cautious and Lee aggressive discussion, not copied from Shaara's book, but close enough to make you suspicious. Also, the story is that Longstreet became attached to the idea of defensive warfare at Fredericksburg, three months after Antietam.

Also there's the matter of accuracy. Jackson sends a courier to General Ewell, ordering him to send troops somewhere. This would be a neat trick; Ewell lost a leg at 2nd Bull Run, and was recuperating in Richmond. Hood commands a brigade on one page, a division on the next. He doesn't even mention one of the most famous incidents of the battle, when A.P.Hill's division approached the Union lines in captured uniforms, and the Union troops wouldn't fire on them because the uniforms looked friendly.

I like Civil War novels, and I wanted to like this one, and give it a good review. Sorry, but I can't.

Rating:
Summary: Historically accurate novel!
Review: Promise of Glory is a historically accurate novel of the battle of Antietam and the invasion of Maryland by Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862. The novel begins with Lee's decision to move his army north, and is told from the perspective of various general officers of both northern and southern armies.

The author has also taken the time to put the battle of Antietam in its proper historical context-- with detailed accounts of the move northward by the Confederate army, as well as the taking of Harper's Ferry and the battle of South Mountain. Readers who know Civil War history will appreciate the attention to historical detail throughout the novel. They will also gain an appreciation for why Lee chose to stand at Sharpsburg, Maryland instead of taking the logical step of falling back across the Potomac River and avoiding the battle.

C.X. Moreau delivers a very readable, and believable, account of what it must have been like to march in either army during 1862. His portrayal of the various officers and men that appear in the novel ring true, and his descriptions of battle scenes are well done. Of particular interest is the author's potrayal of the various officers, and their relationships and friendships that existed before, during, and perhaps after the conflict. Moreau seems to have gone the distance in exploring the depths of their associations and putting himself in their place as the battles took shape and men began to fall on both sides. The novel is as much about the dynamic at work between these officers and their men, and their fellow officers on both sides of the field, as it is about the actual historical events. In the end Moreau leaves it up to the reader to determine just what glory is to be found at Antietam.

All in all a very enjoyable read and one thoroughly worth the price of admission.

Rating:
Summary: Historically accurate novel!
Review: Promise of Glory is a historically accurate novel of the battle of Antietam and the invasion of Maryland by Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862. The novel begins with Lee's decision to move his army north, and is told from the perspective of various general officers of both northern and southern armies.

The author has also taken the time to put the battle of Antietam in its proper historical context-- with detailed accounts of the move northward by the Confederate army, as well as the taking of Harper's Ferry and the battle of South Mountain. Readers who know Civil War history will appreciate the attention to historical detail throughout the novel. They will also gain an appreciation for why Lee chose to stand at Sharpsburg, Maryland instead of taking the logical step of falling back across the Potomac River and avoiding the battle.

C.X. Moreau delivers a very readable, and believable, account of what it must have been like to march in either army during 1862. His portrayal of the various officers and men that appear in the novel ring true, and his descriptions of battle scenes are well done. Of particular interest is the author's potrayal of the various officers, and their relationships and friendships that existed before, during, and perhaps after the conflict. Moreau seems to have gone the distance in exploring the depths of their associations and putting himself in their place as the battles took shape and men began to fall on both sides. The novel is as much about the dynamic at work between these officers and their men, and their fellow officers on both sides of the field, as it is about the actual historical events. In the end Moreau leaves it up to the reader to determine just what glory is to be found at Antietam.

All in all a very enjoyable read and one thoroughly worth the price of admission.

Rating:
Summary: Antietam brought to life!
Review: Promise of Glory is a must read for those interested in the American Civil War. Mr. Moreau's research is thorough and presented in a crisp, enjoyable style. Historical facts are neatly woven around studious charaterizations of the men and events of September 1862.

Moreau's story of the Maryland campaign of 1862 is told from the perspective of several general officers from the both the Union and Confederate armies. Ordinary soldiers appear largely as a backdrop to the greater action, but enter the story often enough to give the reader a real feel for the events of the day. I found his charaterization of the key players of the day consistent with what is known about each of them, and his deference to historical events well researched and admirable.

The author's ability to write vivid and absorbing descriptions of the the characters and scenery surrounding the historical events is an added plus to a very fine historical novel. The detail with which the novel is written does a very effective job of blurring the line between fact and fiction and makes it a thoroughly enjoyable read for both the serious historian and casual reader. This book is will find a place among the absolute best historical fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Antietam Fleshed Out
Review: Tom Parker's able reading of C. X. Moreau's terrific telling of the Antietam story works superbly on the one disc, 12-hour format. Parker maintains an authoritative, objective tone and recreates the individual voices--this novelization based on historical record depends on constant shifting points of view of all principals at Turner's Gap and Sharpsburg--with a non-histrionic authenticity. Indeed, his reading of Moreau's rendering of the thoughts and words of just about every major figure from Reno to A.P. Hill manages to sound genuine rather than offer the common stilted manner associated with so much of captured Civil War dialogue.

The novel itself gives needed attention to the preliminaries to Antietam, notably the actions at Turner's Gap from the shifting perspectives of D.H. Hill and General Reno, who died there. As one who has read a number of the major works on and accounts of the Antietam battle, and who has visited the site many times, including on last year's 140th anniversary, this novel really puts the flesh and blood into the historical event for me. As a historical novel should, Promise of Glory does not substitute for the analyses, anecdotes, and accounts. It simply provides them a dramatic narrative context which, at least for me, puts the real people into the hills and rills and cuts and corners of that hallowed piece of Maryland. I recommend the novel to readers and, with this valuable rendering, listeners alike. I read it last year and just finished the listening and am greatly improved by both encounters. I recommend it especially to those familiar with the battle already. I do not know how it would work as an introduction.

The MP3 format of this recording for those who have replay capacity for it on their CD players permits the handling of but one disc for the entire work. The studio work is very good--better than some other I have gotten from Blackstone--without the dropoffs, volume changes, echo chamber sensations, and telltale stop-and-restart pops lesser producers too often permit. The chapterization is a bit abrupt in the reading--I can't imagine there weren't a couple more seconds available to pause and go on more patiently--and the pitfalls of the CD versus tape system (the difficulty of replaying a missed or inattended section) remain, but the ten minute sectioning helps somewhat. None of these quibbles should dissuade anyone from getting this disc into his ear "as soon as practicable," as Lee himself might say.

Rating:
Summary: Antietam Fleshed Out
Review: Tom Parker's able reading of C. X. Moreau's terrific telling of the Antietam story works superbly on the one disc, 12-hour format. Parker maintains an authoritative, objective tone and recreates the individual voices--this novelization based on historical record depends on constant shifting points of view of all principals at Turner's Gap and Sharpsburg--with a non-histrionic authenticity. Indeed, his reading of Moreau's rendering of the thoughts and words of just about every major figure from Reno to A.P. Hill manages to sound genuine rather than offer the common stilted manner associated with so much of captured Civil War dialogue.

The novel itself gives needed attention to the preliminaries to Antietam, notably the actions at Turner's Gap from the shifting perspectives of D.H. Hill and General Reno, who died there. As one who has read a number of the major works on and accounts of the Antietam battle, and who has visited the site many times, including on last year's 140th anniversary, this novel really puts the flesh and blood into the historical event for me. As a historical novel should, Promise of Glory does not substitute for the analyses, anecdotes, and accounts. It simply provides them a dramatic narrative context which, at least for me, puts the real people into the hills and rills and cuts and corners of that hallowed piece of Maryland. I recommend the novel to readers and, with this valuable rendering, listeners alike. I read it last year and just finished the listening and am greatly improved by both encounters. I recommend it especially to those familiar with the battle already. I do not know how it would work as an introduction.

The MP3 format of this recording for those who have replay capacity for it on their CD players permits the handling of but one disc for the entire work. The studio work is very good--better than some other I have gotten from Blackstone--without the dropoffs, volume changes, echo chamber sensations, and telltale stop-and-restart pops lesser producers too often permit. The chapterization is a bit abrupt in the reading--I can't imagine there weren't a couple more seconds available to pause and go on more patiently--and the pitfalls of the CD versus tape system (the difficulty of replaying a missed or inattended section) remain, but the ten minute sectioning helps somewhat. None of these quibbles should dissuade anyone from getting this disc into his ear "as soon as practicable," as Lee himself might say.

Finally, I know there is another Moreau work out there, out of print, somewhere, and would welcome some assistance in obtaining it.

In the meanwhile, get this book and this recording.