SOURCE: A review of Gods and Generals, in School Library Journal, Vol. 43, No. 8, August, 1997, p. 190.

[In the following review, Barry Williams praises the "Factual detail and deft character development" of Gods and Generals.]

Shaara [in Gods and Generals] has chosen four major figures of the Civil War—Generals Lee, Jackson, Hancock, and Chamberlain—and woven an excellent novel told from their individual viewpoints. The author excels at showing the personalities and lives of these key men. The central person in each alternating chapter moves the story toward the bloody battles of the Wilderness and Chancellorsville, and finally to the eve of the Gettysburg campaign. The compassion and religious convictions of Lee and Jackson are contrasted with the equally strong beliefs of Hancock and Chamberlain against secession and the destruction of the Union. All are frustrated by the political and administrative blunders that affect both armies. The author skillfully...