Reviewer: Ed Lewis
Ed Lewis is a history buff, member of the Palm Beach (Fla.) Civil War Round Table, writer of book reviews, and facilitator and guest leader at book clubs who has a fascination for books, movies and discussions of anything Civil War. He is a retired advertising executive.
Review:
In April 1945 a new Broadway show opened to rave reviews. “Carousel” by Rodgers and Hammerstein featured John Raitt as Billy, a barker in an amusement park. In the show there was a poignant and dramatic song, “Soliloquy,” sung by Billy when he learned of his becoming a father. He sings of the macho son he yearns for but suddenly realizes “what if he is a girl?”
“He is a girl” becomes the underlining theme of The Better Angels of our Nature. More than 80 years previously, when William Tecumseh Sherman is taking one of his solitary walks, he encounters a muffled noise in the bushes.
“Make yourself known. Speak up, or I’ll shoot”…Sherman takes a step closer. “Who are you? What are you doing here? Have you fallen from the sky?” writes the author, introducing Sherman and “the boy” Jesse Davis.
S.C. Gylanders provides the reader with a descriptive profile of this illustrious general. It is the kind of pictorial personality that finds its mark in both a historical sense and the prerogative of the author in using fiction. The balance is near perfect.
To relieve the reader from any further gender complexities, Jesse is really “Jessica” and knows her sex would never allow her to actively participate in the war; therefore she assumes the role of a very discerning young boy and shadows her idol, Sherman, until he accepts her devotion to the Union cause and, in a sense, she functions as a “mascot” in Sherman’s entourage.
This is not a far-fetched story, nor corny, but a well-written and easy-to-read historical fiction. Gylanders focuses on Sherman, his phobias, complexities and military acumen. To this mix, she adds Jesse who is bright and a good learner and provides a respite from the tension and stress of battle. Jesse becomes a nurse (posing as a male, of course) and confronts the many Union soldiers who are wounded and lonely for attention and home.
Jesse is injured and brought into the hospital tent of Dr. Cartwright, a competent doctor and antiwar character. Upon examination he discovers, or should we say uncovers, the fact that “he (Jesse) is a girl (Jessica).” Things do begin to get somewhat complicated. Dr. Cartwright shows interest in the new-found female as does a colonel (later general) John Rawlings.
The Better Angels of our Nature comes into its own during Gylanders’ description of battle scenes. The author is an accurate and knowledgeable historian and brings into the story many leaders and battle of the Civil War.
The battle of Shiloh is Jesse’s baptism of battle. Gylanders can be quite graphic. Here she describes a Union burial detachment: “The stench of rotting, bloated, blackened bodies under the midday sun was overpowering, some boys gagged, others simply ran away. But most stuck it out, their eyes streaming, their noses running, their jaws set grimly, determined to plant the Rebs with no less dignity that they planted their own.” Jesse witnessed and experienced the death, dying and destruction.
Are there any romantic interludes between Jessica and her admirers? Nothing that would make this a banned book. This is a Civil War novel and a descriptive and intensive portrayal of General Sherman and Jessica that deserves to be read and enjoyed.