Gettysburg
To paraphrase William Faulkner, not a day goes by that U.S. Civil War novelists don’t wish to find themselves narrating the saga of the climactic Gettysburg campaign of June-July, 1863. Gingrich and Forstchen (the former a one-time Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the latter a military historian) answer every pro-Confederate’s dream with a retelling of the campaign featuring a rejuvenated and innovative Robert E. Lee rather than the ill and error-prone Lee of the three-day battle. Rather than tweak the historical event, the authors offer a dramatic revision that has Lee placing his Army of Northern Virginia astride Union supply lines in Maryland. Forced to attack the Confederate position, it is Union forces which commit themselves to a doomed “Pickett’s Charge” assault. The portrayal of historical figures is accurate and the battle descriptions are finely crafted. The premise at the base of the novel is thought-provoking and sure to inspire many a discussion. Civil War enthusiasts will gladly enlist for this revised Gettysburg.
