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Title: Manassas: A Novel by James Reasoner ISBN: 1-58182-213-8 Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing Pub. Date: July, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.54 (13 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Thinly drawn characters, little war action
Comment: I had high expectations for a book titled "Manassas" but in the end was very disappointed. I thought the characters were not compelling, the action unfocused, and the story (its central drama itself a trite metaphor for the impending Civil War!) not very interesting. I just wanted it to be over so I could start another book.
My primary criticism, however, is that the title is extremely misleading. I hoped in the reading to be transported to the summer of 1861 and there experience in the mind of some interesting character the marching, the tedium, the heat, and finally, the battle as a 19th Century soldier might have experienced it. What were his thoughts, his memories, his dreams about to be shattered in war? Instead, the Brannon family's story lines seemed entirely removable from the events of the day. This tale of a county sheriff and his family's modest adventures could have been just as easily set in 1851, or in some other state with less at stake in the impending conflict. What little history that manages to intrude is accurate, but comes about in asides to a few newspaper accounts the Brannons read, and in merely a few pages of setting up the battle scene.
Maybe "Manassas" holds together better in its series, but it doesn't stand up well on its own. For a better series of Civil War historical fiction, featuring more complex characters, motives, and more complete history, I recommend Bernard Cornwell's four-volume Starbuck Chronicles series. Unlike "Manassas," Cornwell's books transported me to the 1860s.
Rating: 5
Summary: One Family's Travails During the Civil War
Comment: MANASSAS, the first volume in James Reasoner's The Civil War Battle Series, introduces us to the Brannons, a farming family from Culpepper, VA. The family consists of the widowed matriarch, Abigail, her five sons, Will, Mac, Cory, Titus, and Henry, and her daughter, Cordelia.
MANASSAS is more of a prelude to the War, setting the stage for troubles to come. As county sheriff, Will Brannon, the eldest, has to deal with the trouble-making Fogarty clan. His problems with the Fogartys will follow him into battle at Manassas, as the war begins.
The book is fast-paced and well-researched. This is a novel, and, as such, will not necessarily please those historical purists who insist on complete accuracy. However, the story is gripping, and the violence sometimes graphic. For anyone interested in the time period, or the War itself, this is very entertaining reading.
Rating: 1
Summary: What a disappointment !
Comment: I had high hopes for this series but Book 1 was pretty much a waste of time and I won't even look at the next. Mr. Reasoner needs to stay with his westerns. Obviuosly he knows little or nothing about Virginia and little about the Civil War. Culpepper didn't have several "saloons" in the 1860's, maybe a tavern or two, there weren't gun fights between the sheriff and bad guys, Confederate flags didn't appear the first day Culpepper heard about the war, abolishinist gangs didn't attack or threaten Southern rallys in Richmond, etc. He also needs an editor to correct the story lines.
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Title: Shiloh (Civil War Battles Series/James Reasoner, Bk 2) by James Reasoner ISBN: 1581820488 Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing Pub. Date: 01 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Chancellorsville by James Reasoner ISBN: 1581823002 Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Antietam: Book 3 by James Reasoner ISBN: 1581822758 Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing Pub. Date: 01 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Vicksburg (The Civil War Battle Series, Book 5) by James Reasoner ISBN: 1581821638 Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Gettysburg: A Novel (Civil War Battle Series, Volume 6) by James Reasoner ISBN: 1581822200 Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing Pub. Date: 11 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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