Blaze of Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Shiloh

Years ago, I read  - and loved - Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels about the Battle of Gettysburg, follow up by Jeff Shaara's Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measures (the bookends to the father-son trilogy as J. Shaara refers to them in the introduction to Blaze of Glory). More recently, I read Gone for Soldiers, about the war with Mexico and the ways that it shaped nearly every Civil War general of consequence, North and South. And, as I said in my review of the latter book, no one writes war like Jeff Shaara (except his father, Michael, now deceased). In any case, I like Jeff Shaara's style, his body of work, and his topic area.

Nevertheless, Blaze of Glory was not quite all I hoped it might be. Part of that, certainly, is no fault of the author: Albert Sidney Johnston (whose death was the defining moment of Shiloh, if not the entire Civil War) and James Seeley are no R.E. Lee or "Stonewall" Jackson - they are not the gripping characters whose history has become part of the national conscience, references to whom any educated person might be expected to recognize without too much trouble. Shaara includes narratives from the perspective of a Wisconsin private, Fritz Bauer, as well, and to good effect. Fritz (whose parents are German immigrants but who has been nicknamed "Dutchie" by the more Euro-challenged members of his regiment) is a likeable soldier, and his angle as a foot soldier rather than a general is a nice addition. He is, however, deeply memorable the way Joshua Chamberlain or Ulysses Grant or even Nathan Bedford Forrest is memorable, though.

More than the characters, the pacing felt uneven. Many chapters were gripping - not least when Sherman (he of the infamous March to the Sea) realizes his camps have been completely taken by surprise after telling his pickets time and again that they are imagining the sights and sounds before them. In other places, the story seems to plod, Shaara taking as long to tell some part of the battle as it might have taken to fight it.

At the end of the day, this is a fine  read, but is best suited to those with a deep interest in the war in the West, as the battles beyond the Appalachians were known, or an absolutely unquenchable thirst for material on the Civil War.