Jeff Shaara isn’t afraid of big projects. In the early ’90s, he quit his rare coin business to try his hand at writing. And not just any writing, but a prequel to his father Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels, often praised as the finest Civil War novel ever written. Jeff’s book, Gods and Generals, was a best seller, and a franchise was born. He finished the Civil War, worked his way back through the Mexican War and the American Revolution, and leaped forward to World War I. Through it all, he has used the format developed by his father, telling all sides of the story, from famous generals to unknown soldiers.
With The Rising Tide (Ballantine, 576 pp., $27.95), Jeff Shaara has brought the family formula to bear on World War II, the defining event of the 20th century. Reflecting the war on which it is based, this first of an advertised trilogy is a large book full of larger-than-life characters: Eisenhower, Rommel, Montgomery, Churchill and Roosevelt, among others, including one name that still provokes controversy: “The man burst into the room, slammed his boot heels together, made a crisp salute, said, ‘So, Ike, when do we kill some Krauts?’ Eisenhower stood, said, ‘Wayne, I believe you know George Patton?’ ”
Sweeping from North Africa to Sicily, The Rising Tide tells of America’s first battles against the Nazis and the losses from which it had to recover and learn. While concentrating primarily on Ike and the Allied generals, Shaara also devotes many pages to the German opposition and to the common men, the tank crews and paratroopers who did the killing and dying. The novel is so grand in scope, the material so complex, that Shaara’s writing skills are tested. It is thick going at times, with background material often getting in the way of the men’s stories. But there are also gems of history and dialogue, including an unforgettable meeting between Churchill, Alexander and Montgomery, all standing naked in the warm Mediterranean Sea, discussing the planned American invasion of North Africa. Assured by his generals that no German U-boats were lurking nearby, “Churchill looked down at his own vast expanse of chalky skin, put a fat hand on his stomach. ‘Hmph. Too bad. I’d like to see a periscope pop up right out there, let him get a good look at this.’ ”
At the end of The Rising Tide, the Allies are fighting their way up the Italian peninsula and beginning to shift their attention to plans for the invasion of France. Readers wanting an account of D-Day will have to wait for the next book. Shaara has bitten off a huge chunk of history with this series. He is telling an epic story that Americans should know more about than they will learn from the movies. Jeff Shaara will be appearing at Davis-Kidd Booksellers at 6 p.m. Nov. 21.
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