Gods and Generals

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Summary: riki tiki tavi did this
Review: This book [was weak]. I had high expectations for this book because it was goiong to be a movie. The characters are bad and the book is so boring that I would rather watch a blank television

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Summary: Michael's Review
Review: Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara is an exciting adventure of the Confederate and Union armies during the Civil War. Each chapter moves a to new General for either side. This wonderful, informal novel shows mainly the defense and attacking strategies of both armies. General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army is the main character that it talks about and whose scenarios are mentioned the most in this historic novel. He takes the Confederate Army from poor to excellent enough to defeat the Union on numerous occasions. This book is one of the best books I have ever read and I say that whoever is into the action involved with the Civil War and crucial moments and decisions should read this book.

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Summary: Joe and Generals
Review: I think Gods and Generals is a semi-horrible book. This book has too many different types of settings. It goes from a bright and sunny day, to two feet of snow. This book also switches between the main characters too often. This may be a good idea for showing different points of view, but it also a good way to get someone confused. This book also has no plot twists what so ever,which makes this book very obvious and can get boring. There is one plot twist, and that plot twist is really predictable. If you want to read this book I suggest you make that you are out of firwewood first. This is what i think about the horrible book Gods and Generals.

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Summary: How and Why the War Was Fought by the Men Who Fought It
Review: This extraordinary novel tells the story of the War Between the States thru the eyes of four key leaders: Winfield Scott Hancock and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the Union, and Robert Edward Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, of the Confederacy. Author, Jeff Shaara, shows their values, and emotions in order to explain why they acted as they did. Going beyond the simple facts of most history texts, he shows the human side of the war experience, complete with the fear, elation, pride, love, and hate that characterized the conflict.

The book begins by giving the backgrounds of all four men. Lee the southern aristocrat; Jackson, the devoutly religious military instructor, Hancock, the supply officer serving in an obscure post; Chamberlain, the college professor-turned-soldier. Shaara depicts each as a self-less individual who placed devotion to duty above personal gain. America has never produced finer men!

Chinese War Philosopher, Sun Tzu, once said, "A herd of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than a herd of lions led by a deer." Shaara shows how the "Lions" of the Confederacy, Lee and Jackson, outmaneuvered their Union counterparts at Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville overcoming Union material superiority with daring and an indomitable will to succeed. Maps accompany word pictures making the maneuvers of Lee and Jackson most clear. Early on the South was truly led by "lions;" Union soldiers by "deer," with disastrous results.

Napoleon said, "In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one." Good leadership by Confederate officers produced a moral bond between officers and men that raised the morale of the Army of Northern Virginia to heights that more than overcame its lack of material resources. Shaara shows well supplied, but poorly led, Union soldiers died more from inadequate leadership than from Confederate bullets. Sun Tzu and Napoleon were both proven right in this the early stages of the war.

The book ends with the death of Jackson, and Lee's subsequent plan to invade the north in order to strike a decisive blow that would cause Union forces to sue for peace. That episode is a story for another book, "The Killer Angels," by the author's father. I can hardly wait to read it!!

This book was made into a movie by the same name. No matter which side you favored, Gods and Generals, lets you see why and how these men of honor fought so hard and so long. Read it! Then go see the movie and be transported back to battlefields where, "uncommon valor was a common virtue," and honor was more important than life itself. I cannot recommend it highly enough!!

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Summary: Compaing Generals
Review: Southerners will love this book. It describes the half of the Civil War (still known in the South as the War of Yankee Agression) that the South won. According to the author's writing the generals of the Confederacy (Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, and Stuart) were both loved and respected by their subordinates while only General Winfield Scott wa accorded the same accolades by the forces of the North. He was considered too old by President Lincoln to be an effective leader. In this portion of the war, General Lee consistently outfoxed,outmaneuvered and out fought Generals McClellan,Hooker and Burnside. Maybe it is true that the South wore itself out defeating the North!

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Summary: Best Prequel
Review: Not generally a fan of prequel's, but this was terrific. Best trilogy I've ever read!!!

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Summary: character build of cival war figures
Review: the 5 rating is given enough for the description of how lee came to power and the insight of how he felt towards longstreet, jackson and stuart. not a tedious description of the battles but an analysis of the leader's interactions and responses to their surroundings.

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Summary: CIVIL WAR COMES TO LIFE IN 'GODS AND GENERALS'
Review: Before I read 'GODS AND GENERALS' I watched the movie based on
the Jeff Shaara novel,but enough about the movie.Once I began
reading I just couldn't stop.Once you begin reading it pulls
you in and won't let go!Covering events from the end of the
Mexican war to John Brown and from Fort Sumter to general
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's death.Also it incudes a showing
of the friendship between general Winfield Hancock and general
Lewis Armistead.

Rating:
Summary: Great!!!
Review: Jeff Shaara shows good detail on each generals struggle with life and decisions that must be made. He has put much time into studying the civil war and battles which occured before 1863. This is a must for all Micheal Shaaras "The Killer Angels" fans. Shaara has lived up to his fathers mastermine at writing novels.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: This is the first historical novel on the Civil War I have read, mainly because I am interested in American history as an immigrant. I am greatly disappointed with the writing style, which is choppy and displays repetitive, somehow irritating habits of punctuation, such as ... and the use of the phrase "and saw:" whenever the writer wants to present a supposedly dramatic object. I am halfway through the book, and I agree with the other reviewers who say that one character may be confused with another. I found myself constantly referring to the prologue to get my bearings on who was being discussed and on which side he was (Union or Confederacy). I am only halfway through the book, and I had to read some customer reviews to assure myself that I am not the only one confused and disappointed with this book. The stories of each main character are potentially interesting, especially their family lives, but they all seem to be one and the same man - the characters are not at all memorable. I rarely leave a book unfinished, but I will just have to put this one down and look for a better one. I like historical novels because it makes history interesting and easier to learn, especially now that I am no longer a student of history and read for pleasure. However this one does not live up to my expectations. The overall average is 4 stars for this book, and I am wondering if it is because most of the reviewers are already well-informed about the Civil War, and it is easier for them to recognize characters and put them in perspective on the merits of their (the readers') previous knowledge. But for a neophyte on the Civil War like myself, I find this book in need of much editing. Maybe the author is a better technical writer than a novelist.