The March: A Novel (ISBN 0812976150)

Amazon.com Review:
As the Civil War was moving toward its inevitable conclusion, General William Tecumseh Sherman marched 60,000 Union troops through Georgia and the Carolinas, leaving a 60-mile-wide trail of death, destruction, looting, thievery and chaos. In The March, E.L. Doctorow has put his unique stamp on these events by staying close to historical fact, naming real people and places and then imagining the rest, as he did in Ragtime. Recently, the Civil War has been the subject of novels by Howard Bahr, Michael Shaara, Charles Frazier, and Robert Hicks, to name a few. Its perennial appeal is due not only to the fact that it was fought on our own soil, but also that it captures perfectly our long-time and ongoing ambivalence about race. Doctorow examines this question extensively, chronicling the dislocation of both southern whites and Negroes as Sherman burned and destroyed all that they had ever known. Sherman is a well-drawn character, pictured as a crazy tactical genius pitted against his West Point counterparts. Doctorow creates a context for the march: "The brutal romance of war was still possible in the taking of spoils. Each town the army overran was a prize... There was something undeniably classical about it, for how else did the armies of Greece and Rome supply themselves?" The characters depicted on the march are those people high and low, white and black, whose lives are forever changed by war: Pearl, the newly free daughter of a white plantation owner and one of his slaves, Colonel Sartorius, a competent, remote, almost robotic surgeon; several officers, both Union and Confederate; two soldiers, Arly and Will, who provide comic relief in the manner of Shakespeare's fools until, suddenly, their roles are not funny anymore. Doctorow has captured the madness of war in his description of the condition of a dispossessed Southern white woman: "What was clear at this moment was that Mattie Jameson's mental state befitted the situation in which she found herself. The world at war had risen to her affliction and made it indistinguishable." And later, " This was not war as adventure, nor war for a solemn cause, it was war at its purest, a mindless mass rage severed from any cause, ideal, or moral principle." As we have come to expect, Doctorow puts the reader in the picture; never more so than in recalling "The March" and letting us see it as a cautionary tale for our times. --Valerie Ryan

Near the end:
A character driven example of great historical fiction. This novel is not overly long like a much of the genre (if in fact it is in a genre). Tightly written but not does not spare detail.

History Illuminated:
This book is so well written, with the fictional and historical so effortlessly seamed, that you are glued to the plots and sub plots and graciously enlightened on the history of the civil war in America. Prior to this book-and coming from England-I had little knowledge of the civil war bar Amrose Bierce and Stephen Crane and the enforced reading of 'Little Women' at school, but now I feel I could hold my own with an expert at least as far as Shermans infamous march is concerned. (Surely the original 'surge' tactic!) This book also serves as a commentry on war itself; how our skewed moral systems neatly evoke mass murder as heroic and how the reality is completely devoid of the aesthetic pseudo reality we-or Hollywood- gives it. A classic.

Characterization is key:
The March is a cinematic novel with an ensemble cast that is touchingly drawn and achingly familiar to the human condition. Doctorow spins a tale that focuses on the last year of the Civil War through the eyes of a multitude of characters. To see the effect of war through the eyes of such a varied cast, and to still be emotionally involved despite the brief appearances some of them make, is a testament to Doctorow's style and command of language. The novel has an almost Dickenson cast of characters and some of the characters advance the general plot of the novel, while others simply serve as mirrors of the human condition and conduits for philosophical thoughts. Regardless, Doctorow blends them together seamlessly into a coherent and fast paced narrative that leaves the reader fulfilled. The character of Arly served as a personal favorite, simply because he does seem to have a values system, though on the surface Doctorow paints him as selfish and opportunistic. The fates of several of the characters are brutal, shocking, or unresolved. This reader appreciated that fact, as war is never neatly wrapped in a bow. Don't read this novel for a history lesson. It is not designed for that. There are other texts to meet that purpose. Read it for its remarkable use of the English language, and some of the crispest characterizations to come out of an American novel in recent years.

As good as any of Doctorow's great works:
I've been a huge, huge fan of Doctorow since university, some 25 years ago. Since then I've read Ragtime, The Book of Daniel, World's Fair, Loon Lake, Billy Bathgate, and Welcome to Hard Times; at the risk of sounding like a groupie, I'd say they are all classics. The March is no different. Doctorow, with the deftness of a master film director, immerses you in the period by way of engaging and provocative detail. He slips into and out of various, very believable and memorable characters' heads without calling inordinate attention to the technique. He still has a surprisingly fertile imagination for such a veteran writer, and peppers the work with scores of unforgettable vignettes. Without noticing that we're seeing something we already knew, we learn that war is truly hell. I'd say he spends a bit longer "setting the stage" in terms introducing everyone, and a few times I lost track of who was who; but after getting around two-thirds of the way through the book, I suddenly wished it would never have ended. This is perhaps not the best introduction to Doctorow (Ragtime, Loon Lake or World's Fair would be better), but if you love him already, you'll love this.

A Good Snap Shot of the Civil War:
This book gives a good snap shot of the impact of the Civil War on civilians as well as the line of thinking of the generals and the common soldiers. The story is extremely well written. This is some gore, but the gore is realistic of what happened during the Civil War. If you are interested in the Civil War, I think you will enjoy this book.