Rating: 
Summary: Gods and Generals and SO much more!
Review: Recently, I had finished "Gods and Generals" by Jeff Shaara. Before I had even started reading this book, I had high expectations. Many of my friends had read Michael Shaara's "Rise to Rebellion" and were just raving about it. I was hoping that his son, Jeff Shaara's novel would be just as good. Historic novels are not particularly the subject that I would choose to read, but "Gods and Generals" was far from a regular textbook of facts and timelines. The way that Jeff Shaara made the story of the civil bar battles into more of a story of life kept me intersted. Although this was true, sometimes the jumping between characters in the different chapters confused me. Since I was studying the same material at the time that I was reading "Gods and Generals", I could understand points ini history better and found that all the information and facts that Shaara included were completely accurate. I greatly enjoyed reading this novel. I thought that it not only was very entertaining, but helped in the classroom as well. Whether you have to read this for history, or just for fun, it is definetly worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Lucaso's Gods and Generals
Review: I recently have read the book Gods and Generals. In this book there are several characters, which I found very interesting. The main charcter though was Thomas Jackson. Then there were other charcters such as Robert E. Lee, but for the most part it focussed on Thomas Jackson. He was a teacher at a military school in Virginia, but left to join the confederate army. He did not go alone, he took some of his students with him. Many people were involved in combat with Thomas Jackson and many crossed him in the story. For example Jeb Stuart was an important character in the story always helping. In the beginning of the story, it was a little to mellow for me. But as the story progressed further into the war and into the battles it started to become intriguing and exciting. This book over all was an enjoyable read and I would suggest it to anyone who likes to read about history and people in the war.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book for All
Review: Jeff Shaara's writes a masterpiece with Gods and Generals; it combines fiction and reality in to a seamless web of words. You see each character in a way previously unknown in works of history. The book brings you to the side of the great men of the Civil War as they each fight there battles both on and off the field. You do not just see armies fighting and numbers of dead, you fell the remorse the leaders fell for the loss of their men. You do not see each cause as if it were a political speech, but you go through the process of watching these men discover why they are fighting and why many of the men are fighting. Gods and Generals is on of the best books of all time about the Civil War.
The book if it has any flaws it is how it makes you forget you are learning. The book brings to reality something numbers and maps could never do, it brings in the human perspective. This book also made me realize that the North was not the only right choice there were many factors in choosing what cause you fought for. In this book you fell as if the generals were not leading the, but that fate was leading them. This book brought to ma a new and great reality about the Civil War I never got before.
Rating:
Summary: Adam's Amazing Review of a Outstandingly Well-done Book
Review: Jeff Shaara has written one of the most historically well-done books on the market today. Gods and Generals is a tragic novel about the Civil War and the great events that take place during this dreadful period of time. Using multiple characters and several different points of view, he is able to bring you right to the battlefields of which our fellow U.S. soldiers have so bravely fought on to keep this country united as one.
Shaara is an outstanding writer who uses many different varieties and styles of writing to describe the Civil War as it was over 140 years ago. One thing that you have to adjust to is his style of switching characters every chapter to give you a better perspective and understanding of things.
By portraying different Generals of the Confederacy and Union army, he his able to give you a more lucid view of the important events that took place throughout the years of the Civil War. Although Jeff Shaara is a well-known author, he has really done quite a job with this one. I recommend this book to anybody who has any interest at all in the area of US History or who would like to read a historical novel. This book has to be one of the best Civil War books that can be read by people of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: Replys of a Critic
Review: Gods and Generals is a very interesting book filled with tons of facts about the beginning and middle of the war. Jeff Shaara gives you both the Northern and Southern points of view. He makes it easier to understand some of the reasons people did not oppose slavery and he tries to make the reader see that slave owners were just doing what they thought was right. His book covers important and dramatic details on most of the eastern theater battles. I am not usually a historical novel reader but this book did a pretty good job of keeping me interested. Shaara portrayed the personalities of generals like Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, and Winfield Hancock. Each chapter is written in one of these or few others' point of views. Gods and Generals is so intense at times that the reader can practically feel the emotions rising through the words. These pages remind us of the price that was paid for not only preserving the Union but also freeing the many enslaved African-Americans. If you are even somewhat curious about the American Civil War then this is probably the most informative and objective book out there. It was pretty enjoyable and I suggest it to anyone that has the time for a not too gruesome war novel and would like to know more about our past.
Rating:
Summary: Jeff Shaara's best; Gods and Generals
Review: I have recently read Gods and Generals by extremely talented Jeff M. Shaara. The focus of this book is on the civil war, and accurately shows the interpretation of the war of both sides.
The way Jeff Shaara develops his characters never ceases to amaze me. He is so talented that he makes it so you can so it seems like you can see into the mind of the characters, which is very difficult when writing a history novel. Being able to see into the minds of the characters allows you to understand their decisions and to see where they are coming from when they make statements that would normally confuse the reader. This ability also allows you to see the differing views of the north and the south, you can see the war through their eyes.
In comparison to other books I have read by Jeff Shaara, Gods and Generals has got to be the best. He just seems to have put all that was in him into writing this truly amazing history novel, and it showed.
This is a great book by a very talented author, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested.
Rating:
Summary: Gods and Generals: an Interesting Perspective
Review: Gods and Generals, written by Jeff Shaara, is an amazing Civil War novel that combines fictitious and non-fictitious characters with plot to make a deeply intriguing book. Also, it is a much easier read than other history books, which are filled page after page with dry facts and no storyline. Because Jeff Shaara added a fictional plot and a captivating story, I truly read the novel, instead of just looking at a continuous mound of monotonous information. Gods and Generals describes the Civil War through the eyes of Winfield S. Hancock and Joshua Chamberlain: two Northerners. It also tells about Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson: two Southerners. The novel gives a very different perspective of the war, especially from the Southern aspect. When Shaara explains why people in the south were joining the army, he says they were not necessarily trying to save slavery, but trying to preserve a way of life. They had never really known a life without slavery, and the majority of Southerners were not ready or open to the idea of change. This perspective of the War really gave me a less biased view of the conflict and the reasons for it. Not all Southerners were evil slave owners and not all Northerners had a burning desire to abolish slavery. This novel also goes into great description about the many essential battles that took place in the North and the South, and their effects. Something that was a real eye-opener was how horrifying the battles were, and the great number of mistakes that were made even by the most experienced commanding generals. In addition, I was appalled by the [people] that were hastily put in command of an entire army, and the terrible positions they put themselves in. Shaara perfectly describes the War in an unbiased manner and goes into great detail about the four men and the challenges they dealt with on and off the battlefield. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with the slightest interest in America's history. Gods and Generals is the most vivid and well-written historical novel I have read.
Rating:
Summary: Gods and Generals- AWESOME!
Review: Gods and Generals is a superb book. Although it may seem a bit slow in the beginning, it speeds up and keeps you hooked.
I had never read any of Jeff Shaara's books, but was told that Gods and Generals was a good choice. He has a kind of writing that is very descriptive, and it puts an image into your head, which is all that you can ask from an author. As I said, the beginning is a little slow, but once the war starts, he takes you into the battles, and intensely describes them. Another thing he does is has many main characters with which he describes their views on what is going on. With this strategy, you know what each of the sides (Union and Confederate) are going to do, but you just have to wait for the battle to occur.
There are four main characters in Gods and Generals: Colonel Robert (Bobby) E. Lee, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Winfield Scott Hancock, and General Chamberlain. Two of these generals (Hancock and Chamberlain) are fighting for the conservation of the Union, where the other two (Lee and Jackson) are fighting for Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy. Shaara does a good job interpreting what each character might think like, and also developing all of these characters equally.
Overall this book is great, but not a five, because of a little bit of a slow start. But all things considered, I think that you will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Caesar
Review: Jeff shaara's book Gods And Generals was by far the best non-fiction historical novel that I have read. It goes in depth into the minds of all the famous generals that were in the civil war. The pictures that Shaara creates for you of the battles is amazing. When the generals felt sad, I felt sad, when the generals were overjoyed, I too felt there happiness. This book has to be one of shaara's best.
Rating:
Summary: Jimbob's Civil War Favorite
Review: For our history class we had to read a book on the civil war. We had to read a different historical book at the begining of the year and that didn't go down well with me. So, this time I picked Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara and I actually noticed that I loved learning about the History of the Civil War! This book takes the events leading up to the civil war all the way to just before Gettysburg and turns it into an exhillerating novel. This book tells the story of the civil war from the perspective of most of the major generals including Confederate General Lee, Confederate General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, and Union General Hancock. If you are interested in learning about the civil war I STRONGLY suggest reading this book.
|
