The Blue & the Gray

The classic mini-series from the 80s is even more vivid in print. From the first page the novel clutches the reader's heart and refuses to release it till the final word. That old cliché, " I laughed, I cried" applies so well to this wonderful novel about the great war between the states. The reader will laugh and certainly will cry. The novel centers on two families, the Geysers and the Hales, bound by blood but divided by geography and ideology. The Virginian Geysers and the Pennsylvanian Hales are cousins but when war breaks out they are bound by pride to take up arms against each other. It's blood against blood in this horrific tale of pain and suffering and war. John Leekley has produced an epic sure to become a classic. The Blue And The Gray is worthy to stand beside the works of Margarette Mitchel and John Jakes as the very best of Civil War literature. John Leekley's brutal imagery, described with unrelenting passion, brings the horror of that bloody conflict to vivid life. This is American literature at its finest. Honest, thought provoking, and superbly written, The Blue And The Gray will touch the reaser's heart and reverberate through the reader's mind long after the final page is turned.

For someone looking for a more emotional view of the Civil War, with more 'people and feelings' than true history, then this is a very nice read. It is the fictionalised account of the Geyers and the Hales, cousins - one family of the South, the other from the North, that find themselves divided and fighting each other during the War Between the States in the US. The Geyers were farmers, of the land, though were not slave owners, and the story focuses around their eldest son, John, an artist who went into the war as an artist correspondent, torn by his love for both families and seeing both sides of the argument. He hates the institution of Slavery, a hatred amplified by the hanging of his black friend, a freed man for hiding fugitive slaves. The Hales were city-folk. Not only were they divided on their views, but by their styles of life. You see all the various scenes of how families were divided, how the glory of war could turn sour for the many boys simply looking for adventure.There was a real John Geyser, and he did draw a lot of pictures as his time as a soldier. But he was not a war correspondent, and not that professional of an artists. Still is immature drawing carry a power to convey the horrors of war.So take the 'history' with a grain of salt and enjoy the 'emotions' of the great conflict that ripped families and friends apart.This book was basis and 'publicity' version for the CBS television mini-series The Blue and the the Gray, an epic staring the great Stacey Keech and Gregory Peck as Lincoln. This book and the mini series had Bruce Catton as consultant. I also highly recommend this mini-series as giving a human side to the conflict.