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Book Reviews These are some reviews from a recent issue of
The Civil War News:
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A Distant Flame
by Philip Lee Williams.
Novel, author’s note, 309 pp., 2004. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010, $24.95 plus shipping.
The novel A Distant Flame is modeled after Ross Lockridge’s classic Raintree County. The story takes the reader back and forth through time from a single notable day in the life of the leading character, to events in the past that contributed to his development and led him to a single day in the narration and the life he is now living. In the case of A Distant Flame, the date is July 22, 1914, and Branton, Ga., a small town east of Atlanta, is going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the battle of Atlanta. The featured speaker is Charlie Merrill, a lifelong resident of the town, former Confederate soldier, former editor of the town paper and noted author. Throughout the day as Charlie prepares to give his speech in the evening at the town’s Ezra Atkinson Park, the narrative shifts back and forth to the Civil War, with the majority of the Civil War scenes set during the Atlanta Campaign. The young Charlie is a pale, skinny sickly lad and spends most of the first part of the Civil War in bed. He falls in love and becomes intimate with a young Northern lady, Sarah Pierce, who is marooned in the South while visiting relatives when the war begins. Without a chance for farewell, Sarah is suddenly whisked away to Savannah to run the blockade to London and thence to return home. Charlie then joins the Army of Tennessee in time for the battle of Chickamauga. Charlie is common solider. An expert marksman, he is soon issued a Whitworth rifle and attached to the sharpshooter company of General Pat Cleburne’s division. In addition he becomes noted for his prowess at chess and frequently plays chess with the general. He has many adventures through the Atlanta Campaign; at one time he is captured and escapes, until finally being wounded at the battle of Atlanta. He recovers from his wound not in a Union or Confederate military hospital but at a farm near Atlanta, away from the armies and the fighting. After recovery he deserts the Confederate Army and returns to Branton to fight no more. Throughout the rest of his life, although successful and having a loving wife and children, Charlie mourns his loss of Sarah and the loss of his comrades in the Confederate Army. With his wife dead, upon being invited to speak at the 50th anniversary celebration, Charlie advertises in the Northern papers for Sarah hoping she will come to hear him speak and renew old acquaintances. I will not ruin the ending with details of Charlie’s speech and whatever denouement there may be with Sarah. The writing style is literary and the pacing measured and because of that the battles seem to lack the necessary sound and fury. The author has an interesting note at the end of the book and makes it clear he has done much background research on the Civil War, the Confederate Army and the Atlanta Campaign, but the elements in the novel seem too contrived — the chess games with Pat Cleburne and the Whitworth rifle. Why Cleburne decides to play chess and enlighten himself with Charlie is unclear except that Charlie is an exceptional chess player. In real life Cleburne could have found a worthy opponent on his staff or another general’s staff, or among the gentlemen rankers in the Confederate Army, one of whom Charlie is definitely not. Despite the author’s research I don’t think A Distant Flame has the feel of the Civil War, and to put things in perspective for this review, I don’t think Cold Mountain did either. There is a certain understanding of the South and the Civil War and the people involved that great or even good Civil War books have: The Killer Angels, Jim Mundy, Gone With The Wind all have it. This is not to say Charlie is an anachronism, but with all my readings of Civil War first-person accounts Charlie doesn’t come across as a Confederate soldier or a Southern citizen of that era. I almost feel that with some changes in narrative, and no changes in Charlie’s character, the war in question could have been World War II, Vietnam or even the Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps that’s what the author was trying to do and Charlie is supposed to be a “universal soldier.” It didn’t work for me but it may work for you.
Joseph Derie
Joseph Derie is a VMI graduate and a long time Civil War buff and military book reviewer. A retired Coast Guard officer and licensed officer of the Merchant Marine, he is a boating safety consultant and marine surveyor.
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