Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War | 
 enlarge | Authors: Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  131 reviews
Sales Rank: 9862
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0312987250
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312987251
ASIN: 0312987250
Publication Date: April 5, 2005
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Product Description
The Battle of Gettysburg has become the great "what if" of American history. Gettysburg unfolds an alternate path and creates for General Robert E. Lee the victory he might have won. Full of dramatic battle scenes, military strategy, and captivating period details, Gettysburg stands as a remarkable entry in the pantheon of Civil War literature and as a vivid novel of the realities of war.
The year is 1863, and General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia are poised to attack the North and claim the victory that could end the brutal conflict. Launching his men into a vast sweeping operation, General Lee, acting as he did at Chancellorsville, Second Manassas, and Antietam, displays the audacity of old. He knows he has but one more good chance to gain ultimate victory. Now Lee's lieutenants and the men in the ranks, imbued with this renewed spirit of the offensive, embark on the Gettysburg Campaign that many dream "should have been"...
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| Customer Reviews: Read 126 more reviews...
So Good You Might Think It's Nonfiction November 26, 2008
Living in Gettysburg, I like to get books about Gettysburg. The problem is this book isn't about Gettysburg. It starts out familiar enough, but then after the first day of what was the Battle of Gettysburg, the change happens. That change is what creates the alternative history of how the battle might have turned out. Gettysburg is well researched and thought out and truly reads as a book that easily could have happened. The final battle is gut wrenching as it was meant to be. The only problem I have with the book is one that I have with any good alternate history. It's written so well that I might confuse real details with fake ones when I try and recall my Civil War history.
Gettysburg as it might have been October 16, 2008
This is a novel about what might or should have been an alternative Gettysburg history. From the very beginning everything makes perfect sense, with Robert E. Lee taking personal charge of the final events of the first day's battle (which he should have done anyway after a reorganization of the ANV)and forces the final assault on Cemetery Hill. Even today historian disagree as to whether it would or would not have been successful.
In this account the assault fails and Lee realizes that Gettysburg is not the place to fight. But instead of following Longstreet's suggestion of a flanking assault around the Round Tops, Lee thinks like the bold strategist history has painted him and executes a wide flanking maneuver forcing the Army of the Potomac to fight on Lee's terms and is a position of Lee's choosing.
Everything makes perfect sense in retrospect for a grand tactical maneuver worthy of Lee. The problem comes in, in that the authors do not quite know how to stage the final battle of Union Mills (Pipe Creek). It seems unlikely that Meade and his generals would have been so rash as to their final plan of action.
The novel is interesting and follows the day by day thoughts of the principal characters, Lee, Longstreet, Meade and Hunt. Choosing to view events thorough Hunts eyes is a bit odd as he is not what you would call a pivotal character of the historic Gettysburg. Hancock would have been a better choice as he did figure more prominately in events. There are other minor characters on the Confederate side that simple take up reading space and have no real bearing on events.
That said this is a perfectly logical development of the way the Gettysburg Campaign should have, or could have played out and is an enjoyable read and worthy of having in the collection of the Gettysburg historian.
 An Historical Account of Gettysburg, Is What I Thought ... August 16, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is portrayed as an historical account of the battle of Gettysburg with the infusion of a dynamic dimension to the events and characters made possible by what Newt Gingrich refers to as "Active History". Gingrich explains what he means by active history in the introduction to this book. As he describes this active history approach to historical discovery, Gingrich explains that by looking at choices which were "not" made by key figures in this battle as well as uncontrollable circumstances such as weather conditions and other events, made it possible for him to gain a deeper and more dynamic understanding of this great battle. He goes on to explain, though, that it would be mere fantasy to consider an aggressive General McClellan, and that it is important to stay within the boundaries of what would be considered reasonable given the current facts of this historical event. This sounded logical and having read and enjoyed Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels", I thought I would be reading an historical account of the battle of Gettysburg with new insights to this historical event.
What I discovered though, was a complete re-write of the fighting which took place on the second and third days of this battle. I could not find the locations of where some of this fighting took place because I was relying on maps I had, i.e. pulled from Wikipedia, etc., and that this fighting did not even occur in Gettysburg but in surrounding towns and villages. Until I discovered that no account of the fighting which took place on Little Round Top did I realize that this was not a "true" historical account of the battle, but was a "what if" scenario of what could have happened. In my own view this is just as much fantasy as presenting an aggressive General McClellan. Gingrich explains that the reason why most people do not enjoy history is because it is presented on facts which are foregone conclusions where the only differences (I assume he means between historical accounts) can only be found in the minutia of things. While this may be true and history, at least to some people, is considered boring, it is what it is. How this could be considered as anything other than fiction is beyond me, and I find it a shame that Gingrich believes that he can re-arrange battlefields and still refer to his work as historical. For those who are not familiar with the historical facts of the battle of Gettysburg, and are not aware of this "active history" approach, will be confused when they probe deeper into the subject. I do not think that boredom is a reasonable excuse to re-write history, and that Gingrich did a disservice to those of us who enjoy history, regardless of what other's "feelings" toward it may be.
 Gettysburg May 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a fine alternative history. Being an avid Civil War buff, historical wargame player, and historian, I find the novel to be entertaining and fairly plausible, that is, up until the destruction of the Army Of The Potomac (AP) after the porposed Battle Of Union Mills (BUM).
Indeed, during the whole War Between The States (WBS), no major field army was destroyed in open battle. During the WBS this was so, because of the lethality rifled musket which made defense preeminent in the WBS. The facts are that it was far too easy for a relatively few brave, determined, and heavily outnumbered men to hold defensively. These few brave men would be able to effectively delay or to actually succeed defensively. Examples: Thomas at Chickamauga, Hornet's Nest at Shiloh, Jackson at 2nd Manassas, Lee at Antietam, and I could list dozens more.
After the proposed BUM in Newt's book, it is probable that a few knots of determined Union soldiers would have tenaciously hung on just long enough to allow most of the AP's remnants to escape to fight another day.
Otherwise, given the chronology of the proposed scenario in Newt's book, such a scenario could have been fairly darn possible.
In all cases, the book is exciting, enjoyable, and entertaining, especially, for the WBS history buffs. It is well worth reading, even for those not heavily historically educated or not with such historical proclivities.
PS - I have not read the remaining two novels in Newt's trilogy(, but I'm working on them). However, I don't think that a Southern victory at Gettysburg, even one as overwhelming as Newt's book proposes, would have ended the WBS in the South's favor. Indeed, the North had way too much materiel and way too many warm bodies.
A what-if version of a famous battle April 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a what-if version of the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. The year is 1863. General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia invade the North and looks for a decisive battle that could annihilate the Army of the Potomac, thus to be able to claim the victory that would end the brutal war.
Gettysburg is only a small part of General Lee's plan. He launches a battle of maneuver. The Army of Northern Virginia march and flank the Union Army. They cut the Union Army line of supply and thread to attack Washington. The Union Army is then forced to fight in the territory chosen by Lee and his generals.
A very interesting what-if version of a famous battle. Highly recommended!
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