Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Civil War Novel
Review: "Promise of Glory" is a highly illustrative novel in many aspects. Moreau is particularily adept at character description and development and battle scene descriptions. It's almost as though he has battle experience himself. His accuracy and thoroughness are to be admired. Moreau's approach to describing the battle - the novel switches gears from one side to another and from one general to another - is particularily effective and keeps the reader turning the pages. This isn't exactly a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow description of the battle; it isn't meant to be. Rather it examines the vaious generals' thoughts and decisions - or lack thereof - all the while giving the reader what he needs to know about how and why the battle took place. For that alone it is worth the read. Moreau's dialogue - some fictional, some historically documented - is great and adds depth to the characters and battles. A note to the tools who deride Moreau for his "similiarity" to Shaara: Instead of wasting your time writing hundreds of book reviews, of which at most *tens* of people will read, try and write a novel yourself and come up with a completely unique and new genre of writing style. Comparisions of Moreau's book to other Civil War writings are to be expected. But to more or less accuse Moreau of copying Shaara's writing style and characters shows you for what you really are: Trekkies who spend your time trashing others' work because you yourselves are more than likely failed authors.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Civil War Novel
Review: "Promise of Glory" is a highly illustrative novel in many aspects. Moreau is particularily adept at character description and development and battle scene descriptions. It's almost as though he has battle experience himself. His accuracy and thoroughness are to be admired. Moreau's approach to describing the battle - the novel switches gears from one side to another and from one general to another - is particularily effective and keeps the reader turning the pages. This isn't exactly a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow description of the battle; it isn't meant to be. Rather it examines the vaious generals' thoughts and decisions - or lack thereof - all the while giving the reader what he needs to know about how and why the battle took place. For that alone it is worth the read. Moreau's dialogue - some fictional, some historically documented - is great and adds depth to the characters and battles. A note to the tools who deride Moreau for his "similiarity" to Shaara: Instead of wasting your time writing hundreds of book reviews, of which at most *tens* of people will read, try and write a novel yourself and come up with a completely unique and new genre of writing style. Comparisions of Moreau's book to other Civil War writings are to be expected. But to more or less accuse Moreau of copying Shaara's writing style and characters shows you for what you really are: Trekkies who spend your time trashing others' work because you yourselves are more than likely failed authors.
Rating: 
Summary: A tactical look at what generals were thinking at Antietam
Review: "Promise of Glory" tells the story of the Battle of Antietam (a.k.a. Sharpsburg) from the perspective of virtually every general on both sides of this pivotal Civil War battle. The exception would be the chapter where two noncommissioned officers find Lee's Special Order No. 191 wrapped around a bunch of cigars. The comparisons of "Promise of Glory" to the Civil War novels by the Shaaras is inevitable, and Moreau certainly fosters such comparisons when McClellan and A. P. Hill reminisce about how they courted the same girl and palled around with Burnside back at the point (a la the Armistead/Hancock/Reynolds friendship in "The Killer Angels"). The strength of Moreau's book is not when his characters wax philosophical about the notion of "glory," but when they make tactical decisions on the battlefield. In this regard Jackson and Hooker stand out as the most compelling characters. Hooker's reputation is enhanced the most by the narrative since his character is allowed to focus the most on the "missed opportunities" motif that best describes any thoughtful consideration of the Federal efforts at Antietam. The characterization that least rings true is that of McClellan, who seems to be a bit too happy at times for someone who is so worried about making a wrong military (or political) move. Like the actual battle of Antietam, "Promise of Glory" just sort of ends, with Lee ready for the renewed assaults from McClellan which will never come. The move of the Army of Northern Virginia back across the Potomac is covered in an epilogue, which, like the prologue, is a terse report from Lee. When you finish reading this novel you certainly have to wonder about how the Confederate successes at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville made Lee forget how close his army came to disaster at Antietam. Moreau's novel is sufficiently different from the Shaara novels to suit my taste, and is certainly vastly superior to Reasoner's recent Civil War soap opera focus (all too briefly) on the same battle.
Rating:
Summary: Bloodiest Day Revisited
Review: If you are looking for a historical account of the Battle of Antietam this is not the book to read. If you are looking for a minute by minute, unit by unit account of this book, you are looking at the wrong book. This is a great novel on the men that fought the battle and the horrors of the battle. You see the battle through the eyes of many prominent civil war officers such as Lee, Longstreet, Jackson, Hood, McClellan Porter, Hooker, Burnsides and both the Hills. Moreau gives great descriptions of the battles and the men that fought in them. The nice thing is that this book isn't bias toward one side or the other. It's not another book written with the Lost Cause in mind, it shows the battle from both sides. There are similarities to the Killer Angels, Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, which is fine because those are all great books too. This book can squeeze into the trilogy as a good account of the battle of Antietam. I recommend this book to civil war buffs and anyone who is looking for a good book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Bloodiest Day Revisited
Review: If you are looking for a historical account of the Battle of Antietam this is not the book to read. If you are looking for a minute by minute, unit by unit account of this book, you are looking at the wrong book. This is a great novel on the men that fought the battle and the horrors of the battle. You see the battle through the eyes of many prominent civil war officers such as Lee, Longstreet, Jackson, Hood, McClellan Porter, Hooker, Burnsides and both the Hills. Moreau gives great descriptions of the battles and the men that fought in them. The nice thing is that this book isn't bias toward one side or the other. It's not another book written with the Lost Cause in mind, it shows the battle from both sides. There are similarities to the Killer Angels, Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, which is fine because those are all great books too. This book can squeeze into the trilogy as a good account of the battle of Antietam. I recommend this book to civil war buffs and anyone who is looking for a good book to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but not entirely successful, Shaara pastiche
Review: Moreau apparently set out to write the battle of Antietam exactly as Michael Shaara wrote the battle of Gettysburg. His characterization of generals is identical (the down to earth Longstreet, the fey, religious Lee) and his writing style and general's-eye viewpoint are, I think deliberately, similar. But Moreau is not as good a writer as Shaara was. Some of his characters are wooden -- his characterization of Jackson is particularly flat. He does pretty well with action scenes and battle narratives, but he overuses certain phrases: everyone always "bawls" orders, everyone has "great, dark" eyes. I found his reconstruction of the battle to not much resemble nonfiction accounts I have read by Sears, Wert, Catton, etc.: Moreau seems to have simplified the action considerably for the sake of his story. What happened to the Stonewall Brigade, and what happened to the sunken road? This is certainly a readable book, but overall it's not a complete success.
Rating:
Summary: A Civil War masterpiece
Review: Moreau's command of the language is amazing. Few authors can so ably portray battle in such vivid detail. His depth of description offers the reader a front row seat to the scene. As an avid reader of historical fiction, I highly recommend this to fans of that genre. With all due respects to other authors of similar novels, I think it fair to say that this work is equitable in all respects. It would be quite unreasonable to claim one work more accurate than another since neither author actually was present at the time of the event. Rather different perspectives of one historical moment offers a variety of viewpoints, thus creating a more accurate composite of what took place in that setting. Enjoy!
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: 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.
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