GDG- Civil WarfFiction

[Tom Ryan]

<<With a very small number of exceptions, I also do not read Civil War
fiction
-- the reality is too miraculous!

My three exceptions are _Killer Angels_ House Divided_, and Ward Moore,
_Bring the Jubilee_ . The latter is a Sci-Fi classic on time travel and
Gettysburg. Williams is a novel that GWTW should have been.

So, by all means, read Killer Angels.>>

I think CW fiction adds a dimension to our understanding of what actually
happened that is often not conveyed in the straight historical accounts.
This is especially true with historical fiction like Killer Angels.  A
talented novelist who has done extensive research on the subject at hand can
bring the Civil War to life in a way that an historian cannot because of the
nature of their work.

Recent examples of powerful CW novels are Howard Bahr's "the judas field"
that deals with post-traumatic stress as a result of the Battle of Franklin,
Tennessee, and E.L. Doctorow's "The March" that is about the impact of
Sherman's march through Georgia and the Carolinas.  Both are  exceptional
writers who won prizes for these works.

We are also fortunate to have a member of this board who is writing fiction
about the Battle of Gettysburg.  Tom Eishen has already published "Courage
on Little Round Top," and is in process of writing a second novel to be
titled "Courage on Cemetery Ridge," I believe.

Tom Ryan