Member Review "The March" by E. L. Doctorow

Jimklag

Lt. Colonel
Joined
Mar 3, 2017
Location
Chicagoland
I recently finished reading The March
by E.L. Doctorow Random House 2006.

The book is a fictional account of Sherman's March to the Sea told through the exploits and adventures of a large cast of characters. It opens at a plantation somewhere between Atlanta and Milledgeville, Georgia, where a group of newly freed slaves stands by the roadside watching a huge cloud of dust on the horizon that presages the approach of Sherman's army and it ends with the shocking assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Using his undeniable lyrical prose talent, Doctorow weaves together the stories of historical and invented characters - like Sherman himself; the freed slave girl, Pearl, and Yankee soldier, Stephen Walsh to whom Pearl is drawn; Will and Arly, condemned rebel prisoners, whose often comic hijinks are blended with serious life and death drama; southern belle Emily Thompson and Colonel Wrede Sartorious, the seemingly unfeeling Yankee surgeon who learns a lot about being a man from Emily.

Doctorow brilliantly demonstrates the chaos and randomness of war through the actual fighting and the deeds and reactions of his characters who are three dimensionally drawn and historically accurate. This book beautifully and realistically portrays the concept that "war is hell."

I would give this book two thumbs up or five stars or whatever and I enthusiastically recommend it to all who haven't yet read it.

the march doctorow.jpg
 
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My mantra is "Life's too short to read novels," although lately I find myself caving a bit; for the March to the Sea and Carolinas Campaign I'll probably stick with Burke Davis' old Shermans March.
 
My mantra is "Life's too short to read novels," although lately I find myself caving a bit; for the March to the Sea and Carolinas Campaign I'll probably stick with Burke Davis' old Shermans March.
James, I am the same with novels since Robert B. Parker died. This one just looked good and I bit the bullet and don't regret it one bit.
 
I read this five years ago while following Dr. David Blight's Yale lectures on the Civil War and Reconstruction. https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119#overview It had just replaced The Killer Angels on the syllabus at the time the course was videoed (2008). Dr. Blight asked the class, and everyone had already read Killer Angels, so evidently the change was appropriate. I am not a Doctorow fan but still found The March interesting. I read it only once, though, so haven't checked to see how historically accurate it is. Nor do I know it Dr. Blight has stuck with this choice since.

The other fiction item on the syllabus was Louisa May Alcott's Hospital Sketches. I enjoyed that a lot more!
 
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I recently finished reading T
he March
by E.L. Doctorow Random House 2006.

The book is a fictional account of Sherman's March to the Sea told through the exploits and adventures of a large cast of characters. It opens at a plantation somewhere between Atlanta and Milledgeville, Georgia, where a group of newly freed slaves stands by the roadside watching a huge cloud of dust on the horizon that presages the approach of Sherman's army and it ends with the shocking assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Using his undeniable lyrical prose talent, Doctorow weaves together the stories of historical and invented characters like Sherman himself; the freed slave girl, Pearl, and Yankee soldier, Stephen Walsh to whom Pearl is drawn; Will and Arly, condemned rebel prisoners, whose often comic hijinks are blended with serious life and death drama; southern belle Emily Thompson and Colonel Wrede Sartorious, the seemingly unfeeling Yankee surgeon who learns a lot about being a man from Emily.

Doctorow brilliantly demonstrates the chaos and randomness of war through the actual fighting and the deeds and reactions of his characters who are three dimensionally drawn and historically accurate. This book beautifully and realistically portrays the concept that "war is hell."

I would give this book two thumbs up or five stars or whatever and I enthusiastically recommend it to all who haven't yet read it.

View attachment 207419
VERY WELL CRAFTED. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS WONDERFUL BOOK. I GIVE IT TEN STARS ON A SCALE FROM ONE TO FIVE. DAVID.
 
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