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Title details for Gettysburg by Newt Gingrich - Available

Gettysburg

A Novel of the Civil War

#1 in series

by Newt Gingrich
William R. Forstchen
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
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1 of 2 copies available
The Civil War is the American Iliad. Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson, Grant, and Lee still stand as heroic ideals, as stirring to our national memory as were the legendary Achilles and Hector to the world of the ancient Greeks. Within the story of our Iliad one battle stands forth above all others: Gettysburg. Millions visit Gettysburg each year to walk the fields and hills where Joshua Chamberlain made his legendary stand and Pickett went down to a defeat which doomed a nation, but in defeat forever became a symbol of the heroic Lost Cause. As the years passed, and the scars healed, the debate, rather than drifting away has intensified. It is the battle which has become the great "what if," of American history and the center of a dreamscape where Confederate banners finally do crown the heights above the town. The year is 1863, and General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia are poised to attack the North and claim the victory that would end the brutal conflict. But Lee's Gettysburg campaign ended in failure, ultimately deciding the outcome of the war. Launching his men into a vast sweeping operation, of which the town of Gettysburg is but one small part of the plan, General Lee, acting as he did at Chancellorsville, Second Manassas, and Antietam, displays the audacity of old. He knows he has but one more good chance to gain ultimate victory, for after two years of war the relentless power of an industrialized north is wearing the South down. Lee's lieutenants and the men in the ranks, embued with this renewed spirit of the offensive embark on the Gettysburg Campaign that many dream "should have been." The soldiers in the line, Yank and Reb, knew as well that this would be the great challenge, the decisive moment that would decided whether a nation would die, or be created, and both sides were ready, willing to lay down their lives for their Cause. An action-packed and painstakingly researched masterwork by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen, Gettysburg stands as the first book in a series to tell the story of how history could have unfolded, how a victory for Lee would have changed the destiny of the nation forever. In the great tradition of The Killer Angels and Jeff Shaara's bestselling Civil War trilogy, this is a novel of true heroism and glory in America's most trying hour.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Gettysburg

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 1, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781470348977
      • File size: 498221 KB
      • Duration: 17:17:57

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      History is studied passively, moving backwards from conclusions, according to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who wrote and reads the introduction. Active histories--like this one--dramatize the facts as we know them by changing the ending. What if Lee had flanked the dug-in Union troops at Gettysburg? "General Longstreet, what is your proposal, suh?" asks Lee when Pete famously questions plans for Pickett's ruinous charge. In real life, Lee didn't listen. Meticulously researched, the book is intellectually gratifying. The realism is marred, however, by an antique, almost Roman, vision of glorious death. "My fault, all my fault," says Meade in his last charge. Tom Stechschulte gives a stunning performance, Southern and courtly in one passage, Northern and practical in the next. B.H.C. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 12, 2003
      This well-executed alternative history imagines a Confederate victory at Gettysburg. Former House speaker Gingrich (Contract with America) and historical fiction author Forstchen (Down to the Sea) create a plausible scenario: Robert E. Lee resolves to command, rather than merely coordinate, the efforts of that gaggle of prima donnas known as the high command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Thus, when he leads them into battle against the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, he does not commit his soldiers to a desperate head-butting on the ground chosen by the Union's General Meade. Instead, he maneuvers around the Union flank, placing his tightly run army between Meade and Washington, D.C., scooping up Union supplies and forcing Meade to launch desperate attacks with disastrous results for the Union cause. The authors show thorough knowledge of the people, weapons, tactics and ambience of the Civil War, though their portrayals of historical figures like Lee, Meade, James Longstreet and Richard Ewell betray a certain bias (the Confederate men are noble and wise, the Union leaders hot-tempered and vindictive). The novel has a narrative drive and vigor that makes the climactic battle scene a real masterpiece of its kind (it's not for the weak of stomach). The military minutiae probably makes the book inaccessible to anyone who's not a Civil War buff or military fiction fan, but those two sizable groups will find this a veritable feast. (June)Forecast:The six-city author tour should attract a good number of Gingrich fans and curiosity seekers. The challenge will be to get this into the hands of the broader audience of Civil War and military aficionados.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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