Product Description

In the Pulitzer prize-winning classic The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara created the finest Civil War novel of our time, an enduring bestseller that has sold more than two million copies. In the bestselling Gods and Generals, Shaara's son, Jeff, brilliantly sustained his father's vision, telling the epic story of the events culminating in the Battle of Gettysburg. Now, Jeff Shaara brings this legendary father-son trilogy to its stunning conclusion in a novel that brings to life the final two years of the Civil War.

As The Last Full Measure opens, Gettysburg is past and the war advances to its third brutal year. On the Union side, the gulf between the politicians in Washington and the generals in the field yawns ever wider. Never has the cumbersome Union Army so desperately needed a decisive, hard-nosed leader. It is at this critical moment that Lincoln places Ulysses S. Grant in command--and turns the tide of war.

For Robert E. Lee, Gettysburg was an unspeakable disaster--compounded by the shattering loss of the fiery Stonewall Jackson two months before. Lee knows better than anyone that the South cannot survive a war of attrition. But with the total devotion of his generals--Longstreet, Hill, Stuart--and his unswerving faith in God, Lee is determined to fight to the bitter end.

Here too is Joshua Chamberlain, the college professor who emerged as the Union hero of Gettysburg--and who will rise to become one of the greatest figures of the Civil War.

Battle by staggering battle, Shaara dramatizes the escalating confrontation between Lee and Grant--complicated, heroic, deeply troubled men. From the costly Battle of the Wilderness to the agonizing siege of Petersburg to Lee's epoch-making surrender at Appomattox, Shaara portrays the riveting conclusion of the Civil War through the minds and hearts of the individuals who gave their last full measure.

Full of human passion and the spellbinding truth of history, The Last Full Measure is the fitting capstone to a magnificent literary trilogy.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23248 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-02
• Released on: 2000-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 640 pages

Amazon.com Review
Author Jeff Shaara rounds out the Civil War trilogy started by his late father Michael Shaara, whose book The Killer Angels describes the Battle of Gettysburg. Just as Jeff Shaara's Gods and Generals covers action prior to Gettysburg, The Last Full Measure picks up with Confederate General Robert E. Lee's retreat from Pennsylvania and continues through the end of the war. Shaara focuses on the characters of Lee and Union commander Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, both of whom play prominent roles in the earlier books. He also introduces a new one: Ulysses S. Grant, the Union general who would finally defeat the South--something no soldier before him could manage. The Last Full Measure is often exciting and poignant, and fans of The Killer Angels and Gods and Generals won't be disappointed. --John Miller

From Publishers Weekly
Concluding the Civil War trilogy that began with his father Michael's Pulitzer-winning The Killer Angels, Shaara (Gods and Generals) chronicles Lee's retreat from Gettysburg and his valiant efforts to defend northern Virginia from Grant's superior, better-supplied forces. Seen alternately through the eyes of Lee, Grant and Maine abolitionist Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the narrative begins with the successful Union ambush at Bristoe Station in October 1863. It then details Lee's 18-month cat-and-mouse game as he outmaneuvers Grant, despite overwhelming odds and terrible deprivation, concludes with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Impressively researched, this deeply affecting work can't be faulted for inaccuracy or lack of detail. But the occasionally coarse grain of Shaara's characterizations is a problem. Haunted by Stonewall Jackson's ghost, 56-year-old Lee frequently appears to be a semisenile neurotic. Grant, more concerned about his supply of cigars than battle losses, comes across as a dolt. This tendency toward caricature notwithstanding, Shaara has produced a stirring epigraph to his father's remarkable novel. Major ad/promo; first serial to Civil War Times Illustrated; BOMC and QPB alternates; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The late Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels (LJ 9/1/74), about the Battle of Gettysburg, is a classic Civil War novel. His son Jeff has written two novels that bracket it and complete a trilogy about the Civil War in the East. In his Gods and Generals (LJ 3/15/95), Shaara followed the fortunes of several men destined to fight one another in the great battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville, and in this book he writes about the course of the war in Virginia from Lee's retreat from Gettysburg to his surrender at Appomattox Court House. Ulysses S. Grant has come East to assume command of all Federal forces and to confront Lee, and the war they make is marked by such horrendous battles as The Wilderness and Spotsylvania. As characters, Grant and Lee dominate this book, overshadowing such other historical figures as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and John Gordon. Civil War buffs will find Shaara nodding on some small details, but they generally will be delighted with this book. More general readers, however, may find it lacks the dramatic intensity of his father's riveting novel. While not ranking with the very best Civil War fiction, it does take its place along side such fine ones as William Safire's Freedom (Doubleday, 1987).
-ACharles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Life-like Conclusion to the Civil War
Jeff Shaara follows in his father's footsteps ... big shoes to fill indeed! He does a highly admirable job of researching and writing about the heroes, both North and South, who fought during the last two years of the Civil War. This book provides the reader a ring-side seat to key battles and positions, as each side fights to their last full measure of strength. The reader is provided personal information about the lives of the major players: General Robert E. Lee, General Ulysses S. Grant, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. We get inside the hearts and minds of these soldiers and although fiction it rings true to life. Historical fiction is a marvelous method to learn about detailed and important battles which became turning points in this most fundamental war in the history of the United States.

Most impressive descriptions are provided as General Robert E. Lee struggles in his heart and soul to send his valorous troops against the much better equipped Northern soldiers. We learn how strategy and insight gave the South advantages over technology and numbers, in the beginning. We learn that after Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was given command of the North, the tides turned ... and the reasons why. Maps are provided which give proper visualization to the word descriptions of strategic locations and key battles. Divided into four parts, the prolog to each section uses the words of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address very effectively. Each section includes descriptions of a wide range of events, thorough analysis, and human emotions for the years of the war and post war events that it covers.

The book goes beyond the war to include descriptons of when President Lincoln is shot. It concludes with an afterward that gives a wonderful summary of the post-war lives of major participants both Blue and the Gray. Reading this book was truly an eye-opening experience, filled with illuminating moments and unforgettable real people. It leaves the reader hungry to read more about the subject It compelled me to buy more books by this author - for example, "Gone for Soldiers" (the Mexican War) and "Rise to Rebellion" (the American Revolutionary War). Erika Borsos (erikab93)

Excellent Conclusion to A Magnificent Series
"The Last Full Measure" has a much more difficult task to undertake than did the original book in the series, "The Killer Angels" by Mr. Shaara's father, Michael Shaara. This book covers the Civil War from the close of the battle at Gettysburg until shortly after the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, some 3 years, whereas "The Killer Angels" covered only a period of 4 days. Nonetheless, the author does an outstanding job of taking us into the heads of the major players in the war, and as always, does a particularly outstanding job with Confederate General Robert E. Lee. As in his other books, the author writes from the viewpoints of several of the critical individuals who were around at this point in the War.

I read this book after having read "Personal Memoirs" of Union General and former President Ulysses S. Grant, and was somewhat concerned that the sections written from Grant's point of view would be redundant. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were not, and in the end these were some of my favorite parts of the text. It is amazing how informative this book is, and how much effort the author makes to accurately portray the characters and educate the reader about the many interesting aspects of the war. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the Second Battle of the Wilderness, the description of the earthworks and the men who guarded them around Richmond and Petersburg, VA and the fast-paced action that led to Lee's ultimate surrender.

This is a very well-written conclusion to this series. The author covers a lot of ground, but manages to not overwhelm the reader and keep them very engaged. I highly recommend this book.

A Chip Off The Old Block.
The general consensus seems to be that Jeff Shaara is a good writer, but not up to his father's standards. I have to disagree. This book was thoroughly enjoyable and quite moving. Not only that, Jeff manages to write the book in the same style as his father, likely in a successful attempt to tie the trilogy together in similar prose. This is a lot harder to do than one might suspect.

Also, to Jeff's credit, the scope of The Last Full Measure is greater than The Killer Angels, which focused exclusively on Gettysburg. Jeff takes up the war after Lee's defeat at Gettysburg, and follows it to its conclusion at Appomattox. His rendering of the horrific conditions of Lee's army as it tries to escape the inevitable, and the poignant moments of the final battles and the climax at the courthouse are as good as historical writing gets. I believe Jeff surpasses Michael's ability to tap into and reveal the minds and emotions of the key players, Lee, Grant, Chamberlain, and others.

Don't discount or skip this book based on the comparative naysayers' comments. I place The Last Full Measure on the top shelf of Civil War literature. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.