Thursday, April 12, 2007

The March

THE MARCH: E.L. Doctorow: Random House: Fiction: 363 pgs.

The March is a novelization of General Sherman’s march across the South at the end of the Civil War. Doctorow has mixed fact and fiction skillfully to create a realistic and heartbreaking portrait of this historical event. As Sherman’s troops marched through the crumbling Confederacy they left behind them destroyed hopes and took with them an ever-growing entourage of freed slaves, displaced southerners, journalists, criminals and a host of others.

To me, The March can be easily compared to Shaara’s Killer Angels. It bring the Civil War to life in a way that no text book could.

CZ

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