Several days ago, I finished reading the Shaaras' American Civil War trilogy: Gods and Generals, by Jeff Shaara; The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara; The Last Full Measure, by Jeff Shaara.
It was a few years ago that I first bought and read The Killer Angels. I had seen the movie Gettysburg, which is based on the book, and liked it very much. (I've also seen the movie based on Gods and Generals.)
So I read the book, and fortunately was able to stomach the blood, and also the fact that people kept asking God to stop a flow of water… figure it out. On the other hand, don't.
What I liked most about it was its realism. It seems some people have a tendency to think about war as something cool. But when you really think about it, how can mass, cold-blooded killing be cool? There was something in another book I've read, The Boy Colonel, about that. One character very promptly admits he thinks war is "romantic", and the main character responds something like this: You see the enemy, approach the enemy, see that cold look of fear in his eyes, and shove your sword down his throat.
Having read the second, I've long wanted to read the other two books, and I finally have. (I also reread The Killer Angels, to keep everything in order.)
The trilogy makes it plain, without being too graphic, that war is a horrible thing, and a civil war even more so. Very close friends, even brothers, broke up to fight on different sides; I think particularly of Winfield Hancock and Lewis Armistead. Lawrence Chamberlain is fighting to end slavery, but finds that on the battlefield, he forgets the "cause". You don't think, you kill.
The books dive into the personal lives of those who fought, both blue and gray. Many of them were pious men - and though bad theology is too prevalent at the outset of Gods and Generals - theology is rarely the topic at hand. Prayer, absolute trust in the will of God, and a desire to please him are seen vividly in the lives of Robert E. Lee and Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson; piety is not brushed over, as it so often is in modern history books.
I think the Shaaras did a very fine job of not "taking sides", too. Because the Union was not wholly "right" in everything, nor the Confederacy "wrong" in everything. I'll not go more into what I think, personally. If you'd like to know what I think, you should probably ask my dad what he thinks.
I suppose I should probably say something more about the movies, too. They (Gods and Generals and Gettysburg) were, all things considered, very good. Not even on screen was God forgotten - especially when Thomas Jackson enters the scene.
What I'm irritated about is that a lot of people would rather watch a movie where people fight orcs, or vampires, or zombies, instead of realistic people, with human intellect, emotions, hopes, and purposes. And the same God. Perhaps that's the real problem, people don't want to stand up to reality, and thus, God.
The reason I said that is because I really want to see a screenplay adaptation of The Last Full Measure! But the way things are right now, it doesn't look like one will ever be made. So…
We'll all just have to read the books. Yes, that is a recommendation, provided that you can endure, and truly appreciate human blood and human death.
There is a lot more that I could say, but I'll not further tire my poor reader. Hopefully I've not dissuaded you from reading the books with all that talk about reality. I know, reality is sad and awful… but it's our fault. And one day, it will be fixed.