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Gone For Soldiers
a Prequel to the civil war trilogy,
this book follows the Mexican War thru two major characters, Robert E
Lee, a young captain of engineers, and the aging veteran of the War of 1812, Winfield Scott.
While well worth reading on its own, it was enhanced by reading it in the week
following Bush's attack on Iraq -- Shaara presciently describes an amazingly
close historical precedent [the book was published in 2000] -- an
American
president seeks to avoid difficulties with domestic politics by making a
preemptive attack on a vastly inferior nation. Whether 'Manifest Destiny'
or a new world order and a war on terror, the result is an invasion of a
sovereign country. The initial invasion goes well, but is soon bogged down
when the mismatched enemy forces refuse to come out in open field battle.
Political decisions have as much to do with strategy as military ones.
While the president talks of supporting the troops, there is inadequate supports
in both guns and manpower, and no preparation for the aftermath.
Initial forecasts of enthusiastic welcome as liberators turns to guerilla war as
the army moves inland and Scott is forced to deplete his already small forces
with numerous garrisons to contain and control his supply lines. Scott must keep
casualties to a minimum knowing that public support for this war is thin, and
relies on a risky campaign of maneuver against a numerically superior but
technologically inferior enemy.
The Civil War Trilogy Top notch historical fiction, with Killer Angels covering the Gettysburg campaign, and the sandwiching volumes later written by the author's son to cover the preliminary and subsequent story of the civil war Other links:
For an alternative ending, try Newt Gingrich's Gettysburg trilogy
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