Bright Starry Banner: A Novel of the Civil War

The reviews already submitted say it all -- For me, suffice it to say: I look forward to my students' impressions when they read Carter's fine historical novel in my fall Civil War class -- Any other military history profs out there would do well to adopt this work; it's a compelling and entertaining, not to mention very accurate, read!

No one could have prepared me for the impact of this writers depiction of how it was to be there. I had read reviews and excerpts, and yet had no idea how real it would all become in less than an hour. Alden Carter writes masterfully; his accuracy is unimpeachable, his research complete, his prose detail terrifying and evocative. This history in novel form leaves indelible images and demands a second and perhaps a third reading. Bright Starry Banner has a place beside Shelby Foote in my library.

A good historical novel can make you forget that it is, in fact, a novel -- a dramatization of real events. This novel certainly does that. It also does a good job of mentioning most, if not all, of the regiments that fought at Stones River, so you can say, "Hey, so that's what it was like for my great-great grandpa." A couple of episodes are jarringly out of place...descriptions of the rape of a young Confederate soldier by a squadmate and the subsequent murder of the rapist by other members of the squad, and the rape of the young Leonidas Polk by French sailors both left me wondering what the author was trying to do -- interest Hollywood, perhaps? The book would have been just as good without these.

I was skeptical because of the cover: Modern Neo-Confederate art work and the title: Bright Starry Banner But I was wrong. I've read a quite a few Civil War fictions in my life as a history teacher, librarian and Civil War reenactor. This one will go on the shelf with the keepers to be read a second and third time: Killer Angels (Sharra), Shiloh (Foote), The Black Flower (Bahr) and a few others. I have visited Stones River National Battlefield Park and had a fair understanding of the battle. Alden recreates it accurrately. The other strengths of this novel is the characterizations of the privates to the generals. I never would have put on my list of people to find out more about: Bragg, Rosecrans, Hardee, Polk, Thomas et al. Now they all move to the top of the list. Fortunately, 'Soldiering in the Army of Tennesse' (Daniels) showed up on a sale table and I picked it up and started it as soon as I ended Bright Starry Banner. The Bright Starry Banner of the title is both flags, not just the one on the cover. The grit of the battle lines and reactions of soldiers on the front rings true, from my reading of diaries and my experience as a reenactor. The generals are not gods; they are very human in Alden's novel. What makes this book better than most CW fiction are the ideas in it. It's not all fighting; God, faith, slavery, honor, and sex are on the minds of these characters and these ideas are not the modern notions of them but are placed in the context of mid-19th century America but not constrained by it. This is my nomination for the 2004 Michael Shaara Award for Civil War Fiction, sponsored by the Civil War Center at LSU. I am hoping for a pre/sequel by Alden. My current copy of Bright Starry Banner will be come the loan copy to my friends and I'll have to get a new copy for my shelf.

The end of 1862 ushered in a bleak New Year in which over eighty thousand men from the Union and Confederacy faced each other across battle lines outside Murfreesboro, Tennessee, sang "Home Sweet Home" in unison, and then loosed their guns and cannons at each other. Pitting Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans of the Army of the Cumberland against the infamous Gen. Braxton Bragg of the Army of Tennessee, this devastating battle, in which both sides eventually claimed victory, cost the lives of 25,000 men in just three days. Author Carter uses primary sources to recreate the minutiae of this horrendous battle, and he is precise in his discussion of troop movements, the order of events, and the real actions of real people. Classified as a "novel" because the author recreates conversations which were not recorded and provides insights into what the participants may have been thinking and feeling, the book feels more like a comprehensive re-enactment than fiction. There are no imagined subplots, no love story, and no great or fully developed hero (though Gen. Rosecrans comes closest). Real events become the plot, and real battle movements and counter-movements become the "rising action," with "suspense" depending on the reader's unfamiliarity with these events and the characters' destinies.By including as much personal background and information as is known about each real character, Carter humanizes the many generals on both sides who had often been classmates and friends from West Point, showing their soul-searching and personal relationships. Lower ranking officers and soldiers reveal the extent to which this was a "generals' war," with one soldier suggesting that all the soldiers on both sides "just go on home...leaving you officers to settle things among yourselves." The inclusion of Ambrose Bierce, a Union map-maker who later used his war-time experience in his writing, serves as a fascinating motif throughout, as Carter shows the particular events which appear in Bierce's work.By the time the novel is finished, the reader is emotionally spent. Friendly fire accidents, the carnage of death by cannon, the misfires of ordnance, and the need to fire shells over the heads of their own men reflect the bloody reality of this war, while the moments of kindness which soldiers often extended to each other put a human face upon it. The descriptions are so precise, the devastation so total, the accidents so disastrous, and the role of chance so all-encompassing that the horrors of this war linger. Carter's novel is a huge achievement which should provide Civil War buffs with hours of serious study. Mary Whipple