Product Description

With his acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, Jeff Shaara expanded upon his father's Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War classic, The Killer Angels--ushering the reader through the poignant drama of this most bloody chapter in our history. Now, in Gone for Soldiers, Jeff Shaara carries us back fifteen years before that momentous conflict, when the Civil War's most familiar names are fighting for another cause, junior officers marching under the same flag in an unfamiliar land, experiencing combat for the first time in the Mexican-American War.

In March 1847, the U.S. Navy delivers eight thousand soldiers on the beaches of Vera Cruz. They are led by the army's commanding general, Winfield Scott, a heroic veteran of the War of 1812, short tempered, vain, and nostalgic for the glories of his youth. At his right hand is Robert E. Lee, a forty-year-old engineer, a dignified, serious man who has never seen combat.

Scott leads his troops against the imperious Mexican dictator, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana. Obsessed with glory and his place in history, Santa Ana arrogantly underestimates the will and the heart of Scott and his army. As the Americans fight their way inland, both sides understand that the inevitable final conflict will come at the gates and fortified walls of the ancient capital, Mexico City.

Cut off from communication and their only supply line, the Americans learn about their enemy and themselves, as young men witness for the first time the horror of war. While Scott must weigh his own place in history, fighting what many consider a bully's war, Lee the engineer becomes Lee the hero, the one man in Scott's command whose extraordinary destiny as a soldier is clear.

In vivid, brilliant prose that illuminates the dark psychology of soldiers and their commanders trapped behind enemy lines, Jeff Shaara brings to life the haunted personalities and magnificent backdrop, the familiar characters, the stunning triumphs and soul-crushing defeats of this fascinating, long-forgotten war. Gone for Soldiers is an extraordinary achievement that will remain with you long after the final page is turned.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #332936 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-04
• Released on: 2003-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 512 pages

From Amazon.com
Having chronicled the Civil War in Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, Jeff Shaara casts his eye on the earlier proving ground of the Mexican War in his third novel, Gone for Soldiers. Although it secured the Southwest for a nation emboldened by Manifest Destiny, this two-year conflict has nearly faded into oblivion, eclipsed by the subsequent domestic dispute a dozen years later. Shaara's hallmarks--the deliberations of leaders and the brutal facts of battle--illuminate his engaging diversion into an oft-overlooked struggle in which men who would come to oppose one another fought under a single flag.

The veteran major-general Winfield Scott and an upstart Robert E. Lee anchor Gone for Soldiers. Headstrong, brilliant, and generally distrustful of his less able subordinates, Scott leads the U.S. troops slowly and inevitably toward Mexico City, imparting martial lessons along the way. "The worst consequence of fighting a war is not if you lose, Mr. Lee," he sighs. "The worst thing you can do is win badly." Lee distinguishes himself throughout the campaign, his meticulous scouting and shrewd inferences winning both Scott's admiration and the jealousy of officers whose ambition surpasses their experience. Lee, too, frequently assesses his place in the hierarchy, but he--like Scott--remains more bemused than seduced by the glitter of fame.

This sympathy between the two men grows as Lee observes Scott embroiled in the distracting politics of war: officers salivating for promotion, enemies more preoccupied with saving face than lives, distant legislators issuing directives. If Gone for Soldiers occasionally bogs down during its many lengthy battle scenes, unexpected and delightful small touches arise nearly as often--the "capture" of Mexican leader Santa Anna's wooden leg or the chance encounter between Lee and a young Ulysses S. Grant. Duty-bound and humble, Lee cultivates a perpetual stoicism. "Now we're out here in some place God may not want us to be. It's hard to believe He is happy watching us fight a war," he muses, a sobering coda to the grim calculations of victory. --Ben Guterson

From Publishers Weekly
Shaara's latest historical novel abandons the Civil War era of his two previous works, Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, which completed a trilogy begun by his father with the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels. Striving this time to reimagine the Mexican-American War of 1847, Shaara paints a respectable if uneven group portrait of the men who fought south of the border. Gen. Winfield Scott--accompanied by future Confederacy leaders Robert E. Lee, George Pickett and Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson, and soon-to-be Union Army Gen. Ulysses S. Grant--lands at the port of Vera Cruz, intent on piercing straight through to the heart of Mexico and defeating General Santa Anna. Shaara is at his best when describing the all-too-real horrors of hand-to-hand combat, enveloping the reader in the sounds, smells and realities of battlefield carnage. "Now, when a man dies by your side, you don't expect the man who replaces him to survive either, you don't even want to learn his name. And now, when you march into the guns, you accept that this time it might be you, as if it's already decided." The author sometimes tries to hard to distinguish his characters by their traits, interjecting superfluous details verging on caricature, such as Scott's distaste for veal. "Try never to eat the stuff... Horrible, barbaric. Baby cows." However, a scene describing the delayed hanging of a group of American deserters so that they may watch and cheer the raising of the Stars and Stripes over the castle of Chapultepec is gripping and all too believable. Though the stilted, "in the mind of the soldier" narrative becomes a wearisome contrivance at times, the action scenes are fluid and compelling. 15-city author tour; Random House Large Print, BDD Audio. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Noted for the Civil War saga he took over from his father, Michael, Shaara steps back--all the way to the Mexican-American War, where the young Robert E. Lee proves his mettle.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

"Gone for Soldiers" is plausible
Jeff Shaara has again triumphed with a novel in historical context. His structuring of what the main characters might have done and said within the backdrop of the Mexican War makes this forgotten war come alive. The best military novel I have read to date.

Another Shaara Classic
When it comes to historical fiction, I place Jeffrey Shaara second to no one. That said, I must add, this is not Shaara's best work, but it is still a fabulous read for any lover of American history.

Not only does Shaara successfully depict Americas "forgotten" war with accuracy and color that readers have come to expect from his work, but he also gives wonderful insight in one of our most underrated military leaders with his depiction of Gen. Winfield Scott, as well as a fabulous look at the earlier career of Robert E. Lee.

The reader will also find glimpses of other future millitary greats in the formative stages of their careers such as Jackson and Beauregard.

As with all Shaara novels, it is so well researched and presented, and so historically accurate, it is really a shame to have to classify this work as historical fiction.

A must read for history lovers, and anyone wanting a good insight into the Mexican - American War.

An Incredible Read
Like many readers, I was first introduced into the world of the Shaaras when my high school history teacher assigned us to read the 1974 classic The Killer Angels. Having recently followed son Jeff Shaara's prequel and sequel to the aforementioned novel, I have seen no less than a sincere attempt to bring people into the realm and mystique of 19th century American awakening.
Gone for Soldiers is a masterful work that successfully continues the trend of excellence begun with Michael Shaara. Through a unique and wonderfully woven story, Jeff again mixes creative thought and dialogue with the historical events of the time, this time focusing his attentions on the long march with Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American War. Admittedly, i was somewhat cautious when beginning this book, never truly expecting it to measure up to the standards of its predecessors. In addition, I could not fathom how certain characters, most notably General Winfield Scott, could be made into interesting and sometimes awkwardly sympathetic figures. Shaara somehow found a way.
Two points of interest are the way that Robert E. Lee and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna are treated in the book. It was wonderful to see an American legend, so often revered as the most beloved commander in U.S. history, going through his formative time in the military, a young officer in his forties who couldn't possibly understand his future implications or impact on military and cultural existence. Following Lee through the book is akin to viewing the awakening, albeit a reluctant one, of a great military engineer evolving into a great military leader. A second notable surprise were the entries on Santa Anna, a figure whose very presence made his sections of the book true page-turners. In addition, there are the entries devoted to future Civil War generals including Longstreet, Beauregard, and of course Grant.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book for its insight and its creativity - hallmarks of the Shaara tradition. I can truly state that Jeff Shaara has taken his father's masterpiece and turned it into a dynasty.