Gone for Soldiers: A Novel of the Mexican War
by Jeff Shaara
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jeff ShaaraEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-07-03
ISBN: 0345427513
Number of pages: 424
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Gone for Soldiers: A Novel of the Mexican War
Book Review: Marvelous account of a forgotten war
Summary: 5 Stars
Author Jeffrey Shaara has picked up the gauntlet left by his father Michael Shaara. The elder Shaara made quite a name for himself with his fictional, but extremely plausible, account of the crucial Battle of Gettysburg in his seminal novel "The Killer Angels". It was fictional only from the standpoint that Michael Shaara assumed the existence of dialogue and minor events in order to personalize and humanize the various historical figures who played a key role in that battle. Much of those minor events and dialogue were derived from journals, historical records, and conjecture. The actual larger events are, in themselves, wholly factual. "Killer Angels" may be as credible an historical record as any `pure' accounts. Jeffrey Shaara has assumed his father's legacy by continuing this genre of historical fiction. The younger Shaara is probably best known for his novel "Gods and Generals" (recently made into a movie) which deals with the beginnings of the Civil War up until just before Gettysburg. "Gods and Generals" is an excellent novel and I highly recommend it to anyone. However, I would posit that one his lesser known novels, about a lesser known historical event, may be even better. "Gone for Soldiers" is Jeffrey Shaara's account of the largely forgotten Mexican-American War, which ran from 1846-1848. The reason "Gone for Soldiers" is such an excellent read lies not only in Shaara's skilled literary style, but in his ability to uncover the stories behind this war that are truly fascinating.
The Mexican-American War began over boundary disputes between the Mexican government and the newer southwestern states of the United States, most notably Texas (Which had fought Mexico only 12 years earlier to get its own independence). In an attempt to quell the uprising by the Mexican government, the U.S. Government and President James K. Polk made the egregious error of bringing General Santa Anna back from exile (imposed after he surrendered following the war with Texas) with the belief that he would quell the uprising and re-establish friendly relations with the U.S. Of course, Santa Anna immediately assumed control of the Mexican government and army and promptly attacked the U.S. forces. The war then became a quest to get Santa Anna out of power and restore stability to the region.
The war was fought on two fronts, but Shaara largely ignores General Zachary Taylor's stagnant offensive to the north, choosing instead to focus on the more aggressive and successful amphibious landing by General Winfield Scott's troops to the southeast. This choice is important because, not only did Scott's offensive play a much larger role in the U.S.' success in the war, but it also introduces the reader to much younger versions of men (under Scott's command) who play crucial roles in our nation's history less than two decades later. Familiar names like Pickett, Grant, Johnston, Jackson, and Lee first cut their teeth in combat during this conflict. Later, they play significant roles in our nation's most tragic conflict, the Civil War. Shaara does an excellent job of revealing the passions, fears, skills, and courage of each individual man, choosing primarily to focus on the young Robert E. Lee. In following Lee's progress and development from Army engineer to respected combat commander, Shaara enables to see deeper into a man who we only know as the legend he became. In addition, it is through Lee that we also get to know General Winfield Scott, a general whose war record should put him on the same plateau as such war heroes as U.S. Grant, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, John Pershing, Dwight Eisenhower, and Douglas MacArthur. It's a shame that history has seen fit to forget this man. Shaara does a credible job of reminding us that Scott was a truly remarkable leader.
Anyone with a love of history would do well to pick up this novel. "Gone for Soldiers" is a remarkable accomplishment that belongs right alongside "Killer Angels" and "Gods and Generals".
Summary of Gone for Soldiers: A Novel of the Mexican War
In this stunning, unforgettable novel, Jeff Shaara carries us back thirteen years before the Civil War, when that momentous conflict's most familiar names are fighting for another cause, junior officers marching under the same flag in an unfamiliar land, experiencing combat for the first time in the Mexican-American War."BRILLIANT DOES NOT EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THE SHAARA GIFT."
--Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SHAARA RELIES "ON THE HISTORY BEHIND THE MEN AND THEIR CAMPAIGNS TO TELL THE TALE. . . . Most poignant of all is the appearance of so many characters who will fight under opposing flags 13 years later. Stonewall Jackson shows up as a humorless young lieutenant with a spiritual reverence for his artillery, and Ulysses S. Grant awkwardly meets [Robert E.] Lee. . . . The salvaging of such episodes from history is ultimately a patriotic task, deserving of gratitude."
--The Washington Post Book World
"COMPELLING . . . THRILLING . . . Shaara briskly drives the U.S. forces to Mexico City, building suspense at each battle, all towards the climactic storming of the gates of the capital. . . . [He] has humanized the mythos of Lee as no one ever has and, in doing, makes an enduring contribution to literature."
--Civil War Book Review
"SHAARA, AS USUAL, IS AT HIS BEST IN ACTION AND CONFRONTATION AND IN EVOKING HOW IT FELT TO BE THERE."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer
Having chronicled the Civil War in Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, Jeff Shaara casts his eye on the earlier proving ground of the Mexican War in his third novel, Gone for Soldiers. Although it secured the Southwest for a nation emboldened by Manifest Destiny, this two-year conflict has nearly faded into oblivion, eclipsed by the subsequent domestic dispute a dozen years later. Shaara's hallmarks--the deliberations of leaders and the brutal facts of battle--illuminate his engaging diversion into an oft-overlooked struggle in which men who would come to oppose one another fought under a single flag.
The veteran major-general Winfield Scott and an upstart Robert E. Lee anchor Gone for Soldiers. Headstrong, brilliant, and generally distrustful of his less able subordinates, Scott leads the U.S. troops slowly and inevitably toward Mexico City, imparting martial lessons along the way. "The worst consequence of fighting a war is not if you lose, Mr. Lee," he sighs. "The worst thing you can do is win badly." Lee distinguishes himself throughout the campaign, his meticulous scouting and shrewd inferences winning both Scott's admiration and the jealousy of officers whose ambition surpasses their experience. Lee, too, frequently assesses his place in the hierarchy, but he--like Scott--remains more bemused than seduced by the glitter of fame.
This sympathy between the two men grows as Lee observes Scott embroiled in the distracting politics of war: officers salivating for promotion, enemies more preoccupied with saving face than lives, distant legislators issuing directives. If Gone for Soldiers occasionally bogs down during its many lengthy battle scenes, unexpected and delightful small touches arise nearly as often--the "capture" of Mexican leader Santa Anna's wooden leg or the chance encounter between Lee and a young Ulysses S. Grant. Duty-bound and humble, Lee cultivates a perpetual stoicism. "Now we're out here in some place God may not want us to be. It's hard to believe He is happy watching us fight a war," he muses, a sobering coda to the grim calculations of victory. --Ben Guterson
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