**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
**
Continuing the series that began with A Blaze of Glory, Jeff Shaara
returns to chronicle another decisive chapter in America's long and
bloody Civil War. In A Chain of Thunder, the action shifts to the
fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, in the vaunted
"Gibraltar of the Confederacy," a siege for the ages will cement the
reputation of one Union general--and all but seal the fate of the rebel
cause.
In May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops under
the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last successfully
cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants of Confederate
Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's army to retreat to Vicksburg,
burning the bridges over the Big Black River in its path. But after
sustaining heavy casualties in two failed assaults against the rebels,
Union soldiers are losing confidence and morale is low. Grant
reluctantly decides to lay siege to the city, trapping soldiers and
civilians alike inside an iron ring of Federal entrenchments. Six weeks
later, the starving and destitute Southerners finally surrender,
yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces on July
4--Independence Day--and marking a crucial turning point in the Civil
War.
Drawing on comprehensive research and his own intimate knowledge of the
Vicksburg Campaign, Jeff Shaara once again weaves brilliant fiction out
of the ragged cloth of historical fact. From the command tents where
generals plot strategy to the ruined mansions where beleaguered citizens
huddle for safety, this is a panoramic portrait of men and women whose
lives are forever altered by the siege. On one side stand the emerging
legend Grant, his irascible second William T. Sherman, and the youthful
"grunt" Private Fritz Bauer; on the other, the Confederate commanders
Pemberton and Joseph Johnston, as well as nineteen-year-old Lucy Spence,
a civilian doing her best to survive in the besieged city. By giving
voice to their experiences at Vicksburg, A Chain of Thunder vividly
evokes a battle whose outcome still reverberates more than 150 years
after the cannons fell silent.
Praise for A Chain of Thunder
"[Jeff] Shaara continues to draw powerful novels from the bloody
history of the Civil War. . . . The dialogue intrigues. Shaara aptly
reveals the main actors: Grant, stoic, driven, not given to
micromanagement; Sherman, anxious, high-strung, engaged even when
doubting Grant's strategy. . . . Worth a Civil War buff's
attention."--Kirkus Reviews
"Searing . . . Shaara seamlessly interweaves multiple points of view, as
the plot is driven by a stellar cast of real-life and fictional
characters coping with the pivotal crisis. . . . [A] riveting
fictional narrative."--Booklist
"Shaara's historical accuracy is faultless, and he tells a good story. .
. . The voices of these people come across to the reader as poignantly
as they did 150 years ago."--Historical Novels Review
"The writing is picturesque and vibrant. . . . [an] engrossing
tale."--Bookreporter
