. . . I alone am to blame, in perhaps expecting too much of its prowess and valor . . . could I have foreseen that the attack on the last day would fail, I should certainly have tried some other course . . . but I do not know what better course I could have pursued." .
4. What types of history are in this book (economic, social, political, intellectual, religious, cultural, military)? Give several examples. .
Because this book took place in the time of the civil war, and the characters are affiliated with the military, one of the types of histories is military. The most important characters in the book are all generals, such as: Robert E. Lee, George Mead, John Buford, Longstreet, Chamberlain and Pickett, and they"re all in a war, so that just proves further that this book deals with military history . The other history in the book is cultural because we brought the English culture to have free labor from slaves, but our founding fathers tried to change that to make America different from England. Unfortunately, some people didn"t agree with that. It is also our culture to go to war with other countries (and apparently ourselves) since we have been involved in so many wars in our relatively short history. Some of these wars include: The Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, WW I, WW II, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Desert Storm, etc. .
5. How does the author tell his/her story or present the information? How is the book organized? Appraise the style of writing and any special techniques the author uses.
Shaara tells his story by jumping right in to a dramatic scene with a southern spy wandering through the rain, quoting Shakespeare. He does this, of course, to catch the readers attention so they will be paying enough attention to understand other important parts. He communicates information to the reader through dialog and characters emotions and thoughts. The main character switches with each chapter, and both the north and the south are written about through an unbiased outlook .