Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields: Discovering America's Hallowed Ground

OUTSTANDING. Well written, good maps, some interesting photos. As a Civil War buff, I found Mr. Shaara's guide an excellent companion to take along when exploring the 10 discussed Civil War battlefields. To trod on those Hallowed Fields is a unique experience, Mr. Shaara's book make that experience even more personal and informative Highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn and experience 10 of the Civil War's bloodiest battlefields. A great take-along when visiting these battlefields.

I live in Virginia and have been to many of the battlefield sites described in this book. I plan to return to some of them with book in tow. Jeff Shaara's book is much like having a guide in that he points out physical landmarks, describes the battles and points out the historical significance of the ones highlighted in the book. He suggests getting a regular guide but this is the next best thing. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about civil war battles, even if they aren't planning to visit a battlefield site.

Having personally visited three of this book's advertised ten sites last summer, I only wish that I would have known about this 2006 publication before I had flown away that July 4th. This is the type of material that ought to be read in the car going from one site to the next. Shaara is interesting as well as factual, and I saw nothing here that contradicted anything else I had read or observed during my time at the three parks. In fact, the information I had was confirmed in this book. Shaara includes maps of the battles--nicely done!--as well as pictures of some of the more important sites to look for. I plan to return to the south in a couple of summers so I can hit another three or four of his sites, and I definitely will be taking this book along for company.

Jeff Shaara opens his latest - and - Non Fiction - Civil War work with the poignant story of his first visit, at age 12, with his late Father, Michael, author of "The Killer Angels", to the Gettysburg Battlefield. They stop before the marker where Lew Armistead fell at the very apex of Pickett's Charge, adorned with Confederate flags, and young Michael notices that his father is crying. That visit sparked two seeds - the one Michael wrote in - and I sincerely disagree with Jeff - the SUCCESSFUL "Killer Angels" which I first read when it came out in paperback in 1974! - and the second being the legacy that Jeff carried on with after his father passed on. In "Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields" Shaara returns with the gift of his flowing narrative in an overview of pivotal Civil War Battlefields including those he and his Father spotlighted in their fictional works (Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and Petersburg) and three in the "west" only mentioned in their works (Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chickamauga). Shaara walks over these hallowed grounds, bringing to the reader the very small things, including the spot where a Union Colonel at Gettysburg, John Brooke, marked an "X" on a stone where he had been hit, so that he would remember where it was that he had been wounded. He talks about the ranger stations, how informative and helpful the staffs are, the bookshops nearby where interested travellers can pick up additional information on the battle sites. There are also the personal poignant vignettes of the men and boys caught up in the maelstorm of battle. All written with an eloquent "you were there" feel. I did find myself in disagreement with Shaara over his brief and almost Cattonesque contention that the fierce cavalry fight on July 3, 1863 between Jeb Stuart and George Custer 3 miles from the main battle at Gettysburg was "merely a sideshow". I think Tom Carhart has all but proven this to be a fallacy, and that Stuart's attempt to ride around the Union lines was an integral part of Lee's grand plan to sweep the Union Army off the field. Having said that, and while also acknowledging that this work does not cover other important battlefields for reasons provided by Mr. Shaara, this reviewer does believe that this engaging and very useful Civil War Battlefield work is worth the five full-stars. A Legacy, A Labor of Love, a Historical treat useful today, and a great Father's Day Gift.

Civil War Battlefields: Discovering America's Hallowed Ground by civil war historian and author Jeff Shaara is a concise and focused study of the history of America's Civil War in terms of significant battlefields. Offering readers an informed and informative guide such fields of conflict as Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, New Market, Chickamauga, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg/Appomattox, Civil War Battlefields deftly and expertly explores their history and contributions to the course of the war, as well as their identifying their modern locations and landmark details, enhanced with more than forty maps and seventy photographs. An important contribution to the growing library of American civil war literature, Civil War Battlefields is very strongly recommended as an in-depth and inherently interesting study of the American Civil War battlefields -- then and now.