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title: The Rising Tide
author: Jeff Shaara
Random House Publishing / 2006
score: A
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by Kaare Kvenild
What can be said about World War II that has not
already been said? Jeff Shaara asks that very
question in the introduction to his newest historical
fiction novel, "The Rising Tide." I have become a fan
of Jeff Shaara's works due to the vividness in which
he writes. It is that vividness that Shaara brings to
WWII.
For those not familiar with Jeff Shaara's novels, I'll
give a little bit of background. Shaara writes novels
of historical fiction; specifically United States
Military Fiction. His first novel was "Gods &
Generals," which was a prequel to his father, Michael
Shaara's novel "The Killer Angels." Michael's novel
covered the Battle of Gettysburg, Jeff's novel covered
the first years of the American Civil War leading up
to Gettysburg. Since then, Jeff has finished the
Civil War series with "The Last Full Measure," written
two novels on the American Revolution ("Rise to
Rebellion" and "The Glorious Cause"), one novel on the
Mexican-American War ("Gone for Soldiers"), and one
novel on the U.S. involvement in World War I ("To the
Last Man"). These novels focused on the events of the
wars and the high profile characters therein (Robert
E. Lee, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, George
Washington, Winfield Scott, "Black-Jack" Pershing, and
The Red Baron). With "To the Last Man," Jeff Shaara
put us not only in the shoes of these major players,
but took a different spin on his own work. Shaara
also put us in the shoes of the foot-soldier, the ones
doing the dirty work. Shaara's research was
meticulous on all his novels, but to complete a feat
such as this, he did even more. What Jeff Shaara
accomplished with "To the Last Man," he nearly
perfects in "The Rising Tide."
"The Rising Tide" is the first book in a trilogy on
WWII; it covers primarily the time period of WWII
during the desert warfare in North Africa leading to
the invasion of Italy by Allied forces. The major
players in this novel are names familiar to most
lovers of history: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Erwin Rommel
and the enigmatic George Patton. It is a cast of
colorful characters that Shaara paints beautifully.
George C. Scott gave us a picture of Patton to remember
for all time and Shaara's writing adds more to the man
that is already the talk of legend. But it's Shaara's
characterization of the foot-soldier that is so
riveting.
Shaara puts names and faces on the nameless and
faceless soldiers who did the grunt work of WWII. He
gives names to the tank-gunner and paratrooper.
Shaara gives these men backgrounds and personalities.
He brings common men to the War. The more well-known
characters of WWII were larger than life and that
could make them hard to relate too. What Shaara does
is give the reader somebody to relate to; the
every-man. He puts the reader in the shoes of these
men who so bravely put their lives on the line every
day.
As with all his novels, Jeff Shaara's writing is
incredibly detailed. And that is in some ways also
the book's main fault. The way Shaara writes the
details of the battles is unparalleled. Every
explosion, every tank maneuver is spelled out in
explicit detail. These details are tremendous, but
sometimes they go on too long. And the personal
details are this way, also. Shaara sometimes writes on
too long on what is going on in the minds of his
characters. It can be distracting, but not nearly
as much as in his earlier novels. Don't let this
deter you from reading this book, it is the only fault
of "The Rising Tide" and Shaara's other novels.
All in all, this is probably one of Jeff Shaara's best
works. He continues to grow as an author and I really
can't wait for the second book in his WWII Trilogy.
Any fans of history need to check out "The Rising
Tide." They need to check out all his books, for that
matter. This book also makes the reader excited about
other things on WWII (the upcoming Ken Burns
documentary, "The War," for example). The only thing
that makes me nervous is what Shaara is going to do
when he runs out of American Wars to write about.
- June 2007
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