The Rising Tide

© 2006 by Jeff Shaara


Not much of a review, here, but an observation. I think I discovered the best way to learn history. At least, Civil War and World War 2 history.

First, read a whole bunch of reference books on the subject. Whatever interests you. The recently-deceased John Keegan’s military works, Time/Life library stuff, stuff about Lincoln’s assassination and the manhunt to catch Booth, History’s Mysteries and Assorted Weirdities of Dubya-dubya-two.

Then, read a Jeff Shaara novel. Everything falls into place, and you find yourself reliving history. Yes, “reliving” it.

Now, he’s not the greatest writer out there. I have a nagging feeling when I read him that I’m reading something I could’ve read as a freshman in high school. But he knows how to get into the heads of the men who moved and shaped our world in these conflicts. He does drama and action well, the “O the humanity!” things as well as the personalized, “what-if-I-was-in-that-foxhole” moral dilemmas. He takes the birds-eye view of generals and presidents plotting strategy as well as Sarge and the grunts taking the next hill.

And you know what? It works. I find myself able to breeze through a hundred pages at a clip and still want to read the next chapter. The Rising Tide – which concerns itself with the year-and-a-half North African and Sicilian campaigns of WW2 – is the third Shaara book I’ve read, and I’ve given them all grades in the A-range for the reasons cited above.

Though I’m hopping on to other topics this fall and winter (the A-bomb, some pure-and-lean-SF paperbacks, a detour back to physics and math, Philip Jose Farmer works), most likely I will return to Mr. Shaara’s book sooner or later. There are two more that follow The Rising Tide, plus one about the Mexican War, one about World War I, and, if I’m not mistaken, a trilogy about WW2 in the Pacific theater. I have no doubts they will all be good reads and great aides to learning history.