Gone for Soldiers

May 1, 2000
Shaara's latest historical novel abandons the Civil War era of his two previous works, Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, which completed a trilogy begun by his father with the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels. Striving this time to reimagine the Mexican-American War of 1847, Shaara paints a respectable if uneven group portrait of the men who fought south of the border. Gen. Winfield Scott--accompanied by future Confederacy leaders Robert E. Lee, George Pickett and Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson, and soon-to-be Union Army Gen. Ulysses S. Grant--lands at the port of Vera Cruz, intent on piercing straight through to the heart of Mexico and defeating General Santa Anna. Shaara is at his best when describing the all-too-real horrors of hand-to-hand combat, enveloping the reader in the sounds, smells and realities of battlefield carnage. "Now, when a man dies by your side, you don't expect the man who replaces him to survive either, you don't even want to learn his name. And now, when you march into the guns, you accept that this time it might be you, as if it's already decided." The author sometimes tries to hard to distinguish his characters by their traits, interjecting superfluous details verging on caricature, such as Scott's distaste for veal. "Try never to eat the stuff... Horrible, barbaric. Baby cows." However, a scene describing the delayed hanging of a group of American deserters so that they may watch and cheer the raising of the Stars and Stripes over the castle of Chapultepec is gripping and all too believable. Though the stilted, "in the mind of the soldier" narrative becomes a wearisome contrivance at times, the action scenes are fluid and compelling. 15-city author tour; Random House Large Print, BDD Audio.

February 1, 2000
Noted for the Civil War saga he took over from his father, Michael, Shaara steps back--all the way to the Mexican-American War, where the young Robert E. Lee proves his mettle.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2000
Having novelized the Civil War to monstrous commercial success in "Gods and Generals" (1996) and "The Last Full Measure" (1998), Shaara here alights upon the training ground for that war's future officers, the Mexican-American War. Although combat abounds, Shaara's main concern is then-Captain Robert E. Lee's induction into the mysteries of supreme command. "The future rebel is first seen shelling the defenses of Vera Cruz in 1847. After the city falls, Lee bends an attentive ear to the leadership methods of his boss, General Winfield Scott. When not making mental notes of Scott's decisions, Lee tends to think about duty, God, and country--but mostly duty. Because Shaara dwells so much on Lee's thoughts, "battle narrative unfolds roughly. Even the narrative of Lee's most famous exploit in the war, his reconnaissance that proved the key to victory at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, seems conventional and lacks vivacity. The pattern of Lee's observations of Scott, followed by a skirmish or artillery duel, continues as the U.S. invaders advance to Mexico City for the deciding battle at Chapultepec. In the story's course, lieutenants destined to become generals (Jackson, Beauregard, Johnston, Grant) appear in the smoke of battle but too briefly to acquire much depth of personality. Despite a palpable dip in quality from the author's previous historical fiction, most of Shaara's fans will ride with Lee on this campaign. ((Reviewed March 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 15, 2000
This is Shaara's successful prequel to his father Michael's Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War novel, The Killer Angels. Many of the same characters inhabit its pages but before their allegiances have been fatally strained by the tensions of an impending Civil War. The protagonists are Gen. Winfield Scott, who created our first modern army, and young engineer Robert E. Lee, being tested for the first time as soldier and leader in the little-known Mexican War. Add Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Jeb Stuart, Joe Johnston, Beauregarde, Mexican general Santa Anna--what a cast of characters! The book is simply wonderful, populated with eminently human heroes who are called upon to perform Herculean tasks in a war muddied beyond redemption by the ambitions of back-home and battlefield politicians. Like Patrick Rambaud's The Battle (LJ 5/1/00) this is first-rate military historical fiction. Well worth reading. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/00.]--David Keymer, California State Univ., Stanislaus, CA

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.