Facts in Fiction - The Civil War in Fiction
Facts in Fiction
This past fall, the Upper Darby Sellers/Main Library hosted a book group that looked at how historical fiction reflects two periods of time at once - the past and the present. Each book that the group read was both a re-creation of the time in which it is set and a reflection of the time in which it was written. If you are looking for fiction with some depth, but still a good read, try these titles from discussion series.
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Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
The four day Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest and costliest of the Civil War. Shaara’s story of those days depicts the heroism and mistakes that marked this decisive battle. For the Civil War enthusiast, there are personality portraits and strategy sessions aplenty. For the more general reader, there are unforgettable characters and non-stop action. For any American, there are questions of why and at what price; questions that have repercussions 150 years later.
Michael Shaara’s son Jeff, later wrote both a prequel, Gods and Generals, and a sequel, The Last Full Measure, resulting in a unique trilogy of the Civil War. Killer Angels was also the basis for the movie Gettysburg. And finally, Jeff Shaara has written several other books on American history.
Lincoln by Gore Vidal
While armies fought on battlefields, politicians (and generals) fought the war in the Congress, the salons of Washington, and even (or especially?) the newspapers. From a description of the disguised President-elect Abraham Lincoln sneaking into Washington to his death at Ford theater, Vidal follows every twist and turn of the war. Because of the recent invention of the telegraph, Lincoln often had immediate knowledge of the results of a battle; and in the early days, this was generally bad news. Vidal’s’ portrait of Lincoln describes a complex man with a single over-riding goal - to save the Union. But he is also a loving husband and father, trying to balance the demands of an impossible job and equally impossible family life. A long book, but a good read, even if you’re NOT a political junkie.
Gore Vidal has written numerous works of fiction, biography, and commentary. Lincoln is part of his American series, including Burr, 1876, Washington, D.C., Empire, and Hollywood.
The March by E. L. Doctorow
Everybody “knows” about General Sherman’s march through Georgia to the sea. But after finishing The March, the reader will understand it and what it meant to the people it touched. Doctorow uses his signature mix of real and fictional characters to describe the impact of the march. Behind the soldiers come freed slaves, displaced whites, turncoat rebels, and others whose lives have been disrupted by the war. As this group grows to thousands of people, it takes on a life of its own -with love and death, hope and despair, all the things that constitute living. While Doctorow may not be to everyone’s taste (one or two of the discussion group found him not to their liking), most readers will agree that he “…puts a human face on something that for many today is just a footnote in history.” (BookPage Reviews, 2005)
Doctorow is also the author of the historical fiction titles Ragtime and The Book of Daniel, and other books, novellas and essays.
Song Yet Sung by James McBride
McBride is the youngest and newest of the authors read in this series, and the only African-American. Song Yet Sung, published in 2008, takes the reader into the world of slavery in Chesapeake Bay Maryland in the late 1850s. (If you remembered that Maryland was a slave state, go to the head of the class.) Liz Spocott, a 19 year old runaway slave, has somehow survived a musket ball shot to the head. As a result, she dreams dreams - of a man making a speech about dreams and other portents of “the future of the colored (sic) race”. In the here and now though, she must elude the slave catchers Patti Cannon and Denwood Long, and try to learn the “Code” - the secret signs and words passed from runaway to runaway that point to freedom. As one participant in the group noted, traditional history says the war was about slavery, but slavery is rarely mentioned in any of the books. In the Song Yet Sung, slavery is front and center, starkly and unsparingly described.
McBride’s first book, The Color of Water, was a best selling memoir dedicated to his mother. Song is his second novel, following the 2002 Miracle at St. Anna. Producer Spike Lee released a movie version of Miracle in 2008 and has likeiwse optioned Song.
The series Fact in Fiction is part of Read About It!, a book discussion series of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. This program is also supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and its We the People initiative on American History.
