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Chargement... A Chain of Thunder: A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburgpar Jeff Shaara
   Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre.   ) ibkennedy | Mar 26, 2019 |  ) buffalogr | Aug 28, 2017 | Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton took his army and retreated to Vicksburg fortifying it and getting ready to defend it. Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant, after finally crossing the Mississippi River pushing Pemberton’s army into Vicksburg. The Union sustains many casualties during their attempts to enter the city and General Grant reluctantly lays siege to Vicksburg. A Chain of Thunder (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater #2) by Jeff Shaara takes place in and around Vicksburg, Mississippi during the American Civil War. The first book, I understand, focuses on the Battle of Shiloh, which is referenced in A Chain of Thunder, however I did not feel I missed anything by not reading it first. As with other books by the author, every chapter is told from the point of view of a different character, most historical figures, but others not. The cast of characters is varied, from Generals Grant, Sherman, and Pemberton to simple soldiers and civilians. I enjoyed the dialog Mr. Shaara puts in the mouth of his characters, especially the local dialect and local flavors. The characters in the book are well written, both historical and fictionalized come to life, we learn about their struggles, their demons, and their success. The author describes very well what it is like to be under siege, and the ones trying to break the siege, the small communities within communities the form whenever a dark turn takes a whole population, whether citizens or soldiers, into a place they’ll never thought they’ll be. The research in this book, as with the author’s other books, demands special recognition. While the book is condensed, almost like a history book, it is very readable and interesting. The Battle of Vicksburg is one that I knew very little about, so it was very interesting to learn more about the battle. For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com ( ) ZoharLaor | Jul 8, 2017 |  Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing. ) Neilsantos | Mar 15, 2015 | Leading up to the siege, and of even greater historical interest, Shaara shows us Grant's Mississippi campaign, in which he successfully employs the strategy, thereby demonstrating its merits to an initially skeptical General Sherman, that the two of them will go on to use to win the war for the Union over the next couple of years. On the Confederate side is General Pemberton, a Northerner fighting for the Southern cause whom Shaara somehow nevertheless manages to make one of his least interesting characters. I was left with the feeling that Shaara didn't quite know what to make of him, because the way he portrays him does not satisfactorily explain his actions (or more to the point, his inaction). Shaara also continues to portray the experience of the soldier in the ranks, this time again through Union private Bauer (whom he introduced in A Blaze of Glory). Some of Bauer's story here seems a bit redundant from the previous book, but his character arc does develop somewhat. And finally, a first for Shaara, he introduces a storyline from the perspective of a civilian, Vicksburg resident Lucy Spence. Through Lucy Spence's work as a nurse, Shaara gives us an all-too-vivid picture of the barbaric state of medicine at the time. But her story is apparently mainly intended to show us the hardships civilians were exposed to by the harsh tactics of Grant and Sherman, as Vicksburgers are reduced to eating mule and rat meat. But I had a hard time sympathizing with them, knowing too much about the imperialistic Southern slave culture that led to the war and continued to glorify and support the war until Grant and Sherman quite literally brought the war home to them with such tactics. Anyway, the blame for the suffering of civilians lies squarely at the feet of Pemberton, who could have ended their suffering at any time by surrendering, which he ought to have done sooner given that he was apparently thoroughly convinced of the hopelessness of his position pretty early on. And although Grant is somewhat infamous for his demand for unconditional surrender, once he received it he actually treated his opponents quite well (especially by the standards of the time). To Shaara's credit, all of this does come through his narrative to some extent. So in some ways, Shaara's work keeps getting more interesting, and in others, less satisfying or even more frustrating. Still, on the whole this was definitely worth reading, like everything of his I've read. http://www.amazon.com/review/R3UCQC3KX2XGQZ ( ) AshRyan | Dec 12, 2014 | aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Appartient à la série
Fiction.
Literature.
Thriller.
Historical Fiction.
HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Continuing the series that began with A Blaze of Glory, Jeff Shaara returns to chronicle another decisive chapter in America??s long and bloody Civil War. In A Chain of Thunder, the action shifts to the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, in the vaunted ??Gibraltar of the Confederacy,? a siege for the ages will cement the reputation of one Union general??and all but seal the fate of the rebel cause. In May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last successfully cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton??s army to retreat to Vicksburg, burning the bridges over the Big Black River in its path. But after sustaining heavy casualties in two failed assaults against the rebels, Union soldiers are losing confidence and morale is low. Grant reluctantly decides to lay siege to the city, trapping soldiers and civilians alike inside an iron ring of Federal entrenchments. Six weeks later, the starving and destitute Southerners finally surrender, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces on July 4??Independence Day??and marking a crucial turning point in the Civil War. Drawing on comprehensive research and his own intimate knowledge of the Vicksburg Campaign, Jeff Shaara once again weaves brilliant fiction out of the ragged cloth of historical fact. From the command tents where generals plot strategy to the ruined mansions where beleaguered citizens huddle for safety, this is a panoramic portrait of men and women whose lives are forever altered by the siege. On one side stand the emerging legend Grant, his irascible second William T. Sherman, and the youthful ??grunt? Private Fritz Bauer; on the other, the Confederate commanders Pemberton and Joseph Johnston, as well as nineteen-year-old Lucy Spence, a civilian doing her best to survive in the besieged city. By giving voice to their experiences at Vicksburg, A Chain of Thunder vividly evokes a battle whose outcome still reverberates more than 150 years after the cannons fell silent. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Jeff Shaara's The Smoke at Dawn. Praise for A Chain of Thunder ??[Jeff] Shaara continues to draw powerful novels from the bloody history of the Civil War. . . . The dialogue intrigues. Shaara aptly reveals the main actors: Grant, stoic, driven, not given to micromanagement; Sherman, anxious, high-strung, engaged even when doubting Grant??s strategy. . . . Worth a Civil War buff??s attention.???Kirkus Reviews ??Searing . . . Shaara seamlessly interweaves multiple points of view, as the plot is driven by a stellar cast of real-life and fictional characters coping with the pivotal crisis. . . . [A] riveting fictional narrative.???Booklist ??Shaara??s historical accuracy is faultless, and he tells a good story. . . . The voices of these people come across to the reader as poignantly as they did 150 years ago.???Historical Novels Review ??The writing is picturesque and vib Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Critiques des anciens de LibraryThing en avant-premièreLe livre A Chain of Thunder de Jeff Shaara était disponible sur LibraryThing Early Reviewers.  Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
 Google Books — Chargement...GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne: (3.87)
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