Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8787 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 640 pages

Synopsis
Follows the continuing showdown between Grant and Lee on the battlefields of the Civil War.

Customer Reviews

Extraordinary
Only THE KILLER ANGELS and THE TRIUMPH AND THE GLORY can top Jeff Schaara's Civil War epic, THE LAST FULL MEASURE. Ultra-realistic, captivating theme, absorbing characters, accuracy, it has everything one could ask of a historical fiction novel

A Worthy Effort
I've always been leery of historical works of fiction in which an author attempts to put words and thoughts into an established historical figure. This is treacherous territory.

If the reader is lucky the author strikes fairly close to the mark. The other side of the coin, however, is when the reader comes across a passage and thinks, "Now where in the world did the author come up with that!" "The Last Full Measure" has both elements.

On one hand Jeff Shaara appears to have bought into the Lee-as-suffering-saint syndrome. If it were Stonewall Jackson Shaara were writing about it would have been a bit easier to digest.

On the other his portraits of Grant and Chamberlain ring fairly true although Ambrose Burnside comes off more as a caricature than a living breathing person.

These minor criticisms notwithstanding, the book is good read which most Civil War buffs will certainly enjoy and any one looking for a good read should give a try.

Like father-like son?
Jeff Shaara sets himself a large task here, and for the most part suceeds. His fathers' book was a monumental acheivment, and he does very well for himself. The great character of Chamberlain comes shining through in both books, here Jeff does better than his father, Lee fares less well, and Longstreet is just to difficult to convey. What I really like was his treatment of Grant, his discriptions of battles, espcially the Wilderness, and the little biographies at the end. I could have cried at the sheer waste of so many young lives, but it was a long time ago so I will save my tears for a more recent war.