Gods and Generals

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Gods and Generals

Gods and Generals is a novel

Novel

File:2009 stapelweise Neuerscheinungen im Buchladen.JPGA novel is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern Romance and in the tradition of the novella....
which serves as a prequel

Prequel

A prequel is a work that portrays events and/or aspects of a previously completed narrative, but is set prior to the existing narrative. The word is a neologism, formed as a portmanteau from pre-, meaning before, and sequel, a work which takes place after a previous one ....
to Michael Shaara

Michael Shaara

Michael Shaara was an American writer of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction. He was born to Italian immigrant parents in Jersey City, New Jersey, graduated from Rutgers University in 1951, and served as an airborne infantry officer in the Korean War....
's 1974 Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is an United States award regarded as the highest national honor in newspaper journalism, literary achievements and musical composition....
-winning work about the Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg , fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War and is frequently cited as the war's Turning point of the American Civil War....
, The Killer Angels
The Killer Angels

The Killer Angels is a historical novel by Michael Shaara that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975 in literature. The book tells the story of four days of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War: June 29, 1863, as the troops of both the United States of America and the Confederate States of America move into bat...
. Written by Jeffrey Shaara

Jeffrey Shaara

Jeffrey M. Shaara is an United States Novel, the son of Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Shaara.Jeffrey Shaara was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and grew up in Tallahassee, Florida....
after his father Michael

Michael Shaara

American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
, ending just as the two armies march toward Gettysburg. Since 1988, Jeff Shaara has written The Last Full Measure
The Last Full Measure

The Last Full Measure is the sequel to The Killer Angels and Gods and Generals. Together, the three novels complete an American Civil War trilogy relating events from 1858 to 1865....
, which follows the events presented in The Killer Angels.

In 2003 Gods and Generals was made into a film

Gods and Generals (film)

Gods and Generals is a 2003 film based on the novel, Gods and Generals, by Jeffrey Shaara. It is considered a prequel to the 1993 film Gettysburg , which was based on The Killer Angels, a novel by Michael Shaara, Jeff Shaara's father....
directed by Ronald F. Maxwell

Ronald F. Maxwell

Ronald F. Maxwell is an independent film director and writer from Clifton, New Jersey. He is most famous for directing the American Civil War epics Gettysburg and Gods and Generals ....
and starring Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall

Robert Selden Duvall is an United States film actor and Film director who has won an Academy Award, two Emmys, and four Golden Globes. He has appeared in films such as To Kill a Mockingbird , The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Natural , Network , THX 1138, MASH , The Great Santini,...
and Jeff Daniels

Jeff Daniels

Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels is an United States actor, musician and playwright....
.

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Encyclopedia

Gods and Generals is a novel

Novel

Prequel

Michael Shaara

Pulitzer Prize

Battle of Gettysburg

Jeffrey Shaara

Michael Shaara

American Civil War

Gods and Generals (film)

Ronald F. Maxwell

Robert Duvall

Jeff Daniels

Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels is an United States actor, musician and playwright....
. The film shares most of its cast with Gettysburg
Gettysburg (film)

Gettysburg is a 1993 film that dramatizes the decisive Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. It was directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, who also wrote the screenplay, a close adaptation of Michael Shaara's 1974 novel The Killer Angels, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1975....
, the film adaptation of The Killer Angels.

Plot

Copying his father's approach of focusing on the most important officers of the two armies (General

General

A General officer is an Officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is just called general....
Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee , was a career United States United States Army officer , an engineer, and among the most celebrated generals in American history....
, Major General

Major General

Major General or Major-General is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of Sergeant Major General. A Major General is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of Lieutenant General and senior to the ranks of Brigadier and Brigadier General....
Winfield Scott Hancock

Winfield Scott Hancock

Winfield Scott Hancock was a career United States Army officer and the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 1880....
, Lt. Gen.

Lieutenant General (United States)

In the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a 3 star rank general officer rank, with the U.S....
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

Stonewall Jackson

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War, and probably the most well-known Confederate commander after General Robert E....
, and Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the army and most Marine and air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel....
Joshua Chamberlain

Joshua Chamberlain

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was an United States college professor from the State of Maine, who volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army....
), Shaara depicted the emotional drama of soldiers fighting old friends while accurately detailing historical details including troop movements, strategies, and tactical combat situations. General Hancock, for instance, spends much of the novel dreading the day he will have to fire on his friend in the Confederate Army

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was a military organization whose primary mission was to provide the necessary forces and capabilities to support the National Security and defense of the Confederate States of America during its brief existence from 1861 to 1865....
, "Lo" Armistead

Lewis Addison Armistead

Lewis Addison Armistead was a Confederate States Army Brig. Gen. in the American Civil War, mortally wounded in Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg....
. The novel also deals with General Lee's disillusionment with the Confederate bureaucracy and General Jackson's religious fervor.

In addition to covering events leading up to the war, the book details the events of First Bull Run

First Battle of Bull Run

The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the First Battle of Manassas , was the first major land battle of the American Civil War, fought on July 21, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia....
, Antietam

Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern United States soil....
, Fredericksburg

Battle of Fredericksburg

The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, from December 11 to December 15, 1862, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate States Army Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major general Ambrose E....
, and Chancellorsville

Battle of Chancellorsville

The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, fought near the village of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, from April 30 to May 6, 1863....
. The film version provides only cursory coverage of immediate pre-war events, predominantly surrounding Lee and the secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. It is not to be confused with succession, the act of following in order or sequence....
of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
, and omits the Battle of Antietam.