Erik Larson is one of my favorite non-fiction authors. When I heard that he had a new book out on the Civil War, I knew I had to read it. That put the worm in my brain to finally read James MacPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, and then that made me want to read some fiction. The best Civil War fiction writer around is Jeff Shaara, son of Michael Shaara, whose Killer Angels is one of my favorite books. You see how this goes. One minute I am planning on reading one tome on the Civil War, and pretty soon I'm down the rabbit hole and getting lost in the warren.
So, let's start with the Erik Larson book, which I finished last weekend.The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War is a painstaking, slow crawl from November 1860 to the firing on Fort Sumter in the Charleston Harbor in April 1861. It may be a slow crawl, but Larson is an incredible storyteller whose writing is sharp and incisive.
I particularly liked learning about the so-called Southern Fire-Eaters, who preached secession for decades before 1861 and were instrumental in rousing sectional violence through their rhetoric. Most of the history books I've read on the Civil War mention the Fire-Eaters as a collective but don't provide particulars as to who they were and what they even said or did. Not so with Larson--one of the Fire-Eaters, Edmund Ruffin, is a major character in Demon of Unrest. Same with Mary Chestnut whose diary is quoted frequently but not much of her backstory is provided to put the quoted parts in context.
Larson used the Southern version of the ancient Code Duellohas a framework for exploring and attempting to understand the irreconcilable chasm between the North and South that made the Civil War inevitable. I don't believe in single causes, but I did find this framework to be a useful way of corralling the many perspectives on why and how Americans came to such savagery 163 years ago.
This was a 5-star book for me--compelling, structured, meticulous, insightful.
Before reading Demon of Unrest, I spent a couple of months slowly reading James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom. First published in 1988 and winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1989, it is an absolutely superb cover-to-cover book on the war. Not only are the major battles and major military leaders covered in detail, but McPherson dives into the politics, the economies of both North and South, the international factors, and the role of the navy, the industrial revolution, and the western frontier in how the war was waged. I absolutely loved reading this book, and interestingly, I found it familiar in that the lecture series I listened to from the Teaching Company seemed to come straight from this book, not only in the outline but in anecdotes and references.
Bruce Catton is one of the giants of Civil War non-fiction, with in-depth treatments of various battles, generals, and phases of the war, I decided to start with his survey book, titled simply The Civil War. It was outstanding. At 400 pages, it is less than half as long as McPherson's 867-page tome. They cover the same ground and with much the same analyses regarding the causes, the resources, and the impacts of various decisions along the way. I must say, though, that Catton's final chapters in which he talks about how the effects of the conflict are still being played out today (i.e., 1960 was when this was first published) and today (2024) are chilling and sobering, but his writing is beautiful and memorable.
If there is only one book you read on the Civil War, I would recommend this one. Truly a classic.
Now for the fiction. Michael Shaara wrote the fabulous The Killer Angels, about the battle of Gettysburg. After he passed away, his son Jeff took up the mantle and has written two trilogies about the Civil War, one focused on the eastern theatre and one on the west (meaning west of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland). Gods and Generals is the first in the eastern series. It is a prequel to The Killer Angels and ends with the battle of Chancellorsville.A Blaze of Glory is the first in the western trilogy and includes the battle of Shiloh.
I decided to read all six books, including a reread ofThe Killer Angels. While I love to read the non-fiction, I also love stories and both Shaaras do an excellent job of portraying the players (military officers, politicians, regular soldiers, and even civilians) with credibility and empathy. The real people only say things they are documented as saying, and I know it's cliche to say, but these novels are really meticulously researched. I trust their history!
I'm currently reading A Chain of Thunder, book two in the western theatre series, which focuses on the seige of Vicksburg on the Mississippi.
I'm also haunting Jeff Shaara's events page to see if/when he might be speaking on the Civil War. He has an October lecture in PA, but it is focused on WWII. He also has series of novels about WWI and WWII, which I will likely read at some point.
Simon the Fiddler is another novel, this time set in the immediate aftermath of the war and in the far west, Texas. in fact. The author is Paulette Jiles, author of the wonderful News of the World, and Captain Kidd from News does make a cameo appearance in this novel near the end, which was a real treat. Simon is a reluctant soldier who survived the war by playing his fiddle in the regimental band. After the fighting ceases, he teams up with three other fellow musicians and they make their way as a band playing in bars and saloons and occasionally for weddings and other social events when they can find respectable clothes. Simon falls in love with an Irish immigrant girl who is an indentured servant to one of the army officers, and the bulk of the novel is about him working towards winning her heart and her freedom so that they can start their own life together. As might be expected, there are loads of challenges along the way.
This was a really interesting novel in terms of showing the struggles of the common soldier as he was turned loose from the confines of military life and left to figure out how to survive in a hostile environment. Simon is a wonderful character, full of grit and honor, passionate about his music, introspective, and always searching to understand who he is and how he fits into the world.
Not quite as good as News of the World, but still a very enjoyable story told in a compelling way.
Big Book Summer Challenge
Now for the tally. Simon the Fiddler was under 400, and I started both Battle Cry of Freedom and Blaze of Glory before Memorial Day.
Demon of Unrest, 565 pages read in July
The Civil War, 400 pages read in July
Gods and Generals, 498 pages read in mostly June and a bit of July
So, three books to add to my Big Book Summer Challenge 2024.
