[.ca] The Last Full Measure (ISBN 0345434811)

From Amazon.com:
As Stephen Lang reads the final installment of Michael and Jeff Shaara's American Civil War trilogy, he conveys the horror and exhaustion that overwhelmed the battered soldiers by allowing a hauntingly weary quality to color his voice. The Last Full Measure picks up where the previous novels (The Killer Angels and Gods and Generals) left off, after the devastating Battle of Gettysburg, as the Confederate Army begins a long and fiercely contested retreat. The author writes, "As the war enters its third year the bloody reports continue to fill the newspapers and the bodies of young men continue to fill the cemeteries. To the eager patriots, the idealists and adventurers who had joined the fight in the beginning, there is a new reality, where honor and glory are becoming hollow words. The great causes are slowly pushed aside and men now fight with the grim determination to take this fight to its end." Lang puts his theatrical experience (Hamlet, Death of a Salesman, A Few Good Men) to good use here, delivering the narrative with sincerity. Although his effort is occasionally distracting, he creates a multitude of voices for the many historical characters, adding an element of emotional authenticity to this exceedingly powerful story. Once again Shaara uses an evocative blend of historical fact and well-researched fiction to create a powerful portrait of the men, great and small, whose actions determined the outcome of the war. (Running time: six hours, four cassettes) --George Laney

The World Will Little Note What we Say Here:
Over 100 reviews of this work have been written to date - and many more relating to the other works of this trilogy - leaving not much unsaid. Nonetheless, The Last Full Measure stacks up well against Jeff Shaara's previous work in Gods & Generals. Like that work, this approaches the quality of The Killer Angels, which still stands alone in the area of Civil War literature. Also, similar to G & G, The LFM would have benefitted from the inlcusion of more maps.

Poignant Finale to the Civil War Trilogy:
The Last Full Measure ends the Civil War trilogy of Gods and Generals and The Killer Angels. Jeff Shaara continues his father's work with a novel that is as heartwrenching as it is historically accurate. It was interesting, but when I first read the novel, I happened to be visiting the areas described like Spotsylvania, the Wilderness and Petersburg, and Shaara brings those fight vividly to life. This time he focusses on 3 main characters, Joshua Chamberlain, Robert E. Lee & US Grant, picking up right after Gettysburg. As the war rages on to its 3rd year, Shaara accurately plays out the desperation of the Confederacy and the despair of Lee as he struggles to equip an army without food or equipment available. He also shows Grant in the light that many had never seen before, showing him as both the military genius and capable of making mistakes. Yet it is his characterization of Chamberlain that is masterful, showing the schoolteachers final evolution from good officer to excellent general, and from battlefield commander to dreadfully wounded casualty. The Last Full Measure is a masterful work by an author who is taking the field of historical fiction by storm.

Great finish in an outstanding trilogy:
think this book, and the two preceding it should be required reading in school. I had no idea how horrific this war was, particularly more so as the brutalities committed on both sides were against our own. There were so many moments when I wanted to stop and cry for the loss of life, and especially at the end when the one man who was capable of healing the country and bringing us all back together as one nation, Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated. The research was impeccable and telling the story from the viewpoints of the various generals absolutely fascinating. The honorable Robert E. Lee, Chamberlain (loved his gracious salute to the surrendering army), and the ever fascinating U.S. Grant. One quote from so many in the book that just brought tears to my eyes: "Yes, it was horrible, horrible indeed. But he had to tell himself that, remind himself to see it that way. There was no sickening revulsion, no outrage, no indignation at the barbarism. It was just one more scene from this war, one more horror, one more mass of death, blending together with all the rest." Highly highly recommended, and will definitely open your eyes to the horror of war.

Excellent Read:
Jeff Shaara out did himself on this novel. The perspective he provides on the players in the final moments of the War is truly amazing. He is able to bring a human face to Lee and Grant and bring you into their thought processes, pride, and feelings. Not only does he put a face on the upper echelon of the armies of Lee and Grant but he also provides a perspective from the front lines and the officers charged to command those troops. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially a younger individual. These men were men of courage and honor, their actions should be learned and studied.

A most fitting conclusion:
After having read Gods & Generals and The Killer Angels, The Last Full Measure seemed to be the natural next step in concluding what was America's bloodiest war. I was expecting a somewhat predictable, and hence banal, scenario of Grant taking Lee to the woodshed as US forces are repeatedly bolstered while Lee's are repeatedly weakened. Well, suffice to say, it is anything but banal and predictable (despite, of course, the final outcome). One is introduced to the two dynamic, if not controversial, leaders of the latter half of the war that were instrumental in Grant's success: the impetuous, demanding, & fiery General Philip Sheridan and the unrelenting, aggressive, & uncouth General William T. Sherman. I would be remiss without having mentioned the most obvious new entry -- the only man ever able to match wits with Robert E. Lee: General Ulysses S. Grant. Was he a great strategist? Was he a raging alcoholic? How exactly was his relationship with Lincoln? - and with his subordinates (including Meade)? All of these and many more questions are answered in this wonderfully woven tale that masterfully takes the reader from the bloody aftermath of Gettysburg to the trying siege of Petersberg all the way to the solemn occasion at Appomattox Court House. The incredible heroism of Joshua Chamberlain, the tragedies of JEB Stuart & A.P. Hill, the genius of Lee, the savagery of Sherman, & the vastly contrasting leadership styles of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis are all on full display in The Last Full Measure. "War is for the participants a test of character; it makes bad men worse and good men better." - Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain