by Jeff Shaara
First published 2012
Spring 1862. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston retreats toward Tennessee after losing Fort Donelson, his army nearly broken. Union generals Ulysses Grant and Don Carlos Buell pursue him, hoping to capture the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and end the war in the West. But Johnston discovers their plans and prepares a bold counterattack on Grant's camp near a small church called Shiloh. As the battle erupts, Confederate cavalry lieutenant James Seeley and Union private Fritz Bauer fight in the bloodiest engagement America has yet witnessed. Grant's forces struggle to hold their ground while Johnston gambles everything on one decisive strike. Through two days of brutal combat, unexpected events will reshape both the battle and the war itself. Shaara brings readers into the chaos alongside Sherman, Beauregard, and Nathan Bedford Forrest as soldiers on both sides face a fight that will test their courage and determine the fate of the nation.
Genres: american-civil-war, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, military-fiction, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers
Setting: Memphis, Shiloh, Tennessee
Period: 1862, Spring 1862
435 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: violence, war