North and South [Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

I love to read authors who take the time to research their characters in minute detail and particularly the period in which they have set their story. James Michener and Patricia Highsmith are such writers Jon Jakes is another. The story begins in the months leading up to the american civil war when the Mains from New Orleans and the Hazzards from Lehigh Station in Pennsylvania are united in friendship through their eldest sons Orry and George. Staunch friends who first met at West Point the story revolves around these two characters. It is through them that the story unwinds following the outcome of the civil war and its aftermath. I liked that the author captured the ambience of the time from the slave cabins on the Main plantation to the parade ground at West Point to the mosquito infested muggy atmosphere of pre war Washington. Later during the great battles of that era, namely Antietam and Gettysburg the writer takes us via his main characters through some of the tactical manoeuvres employed during these bloodlettings. Why they worked and sometimes why they didnt. It all makes for an interesting historical tome, albeit a mass paperback one. Interwoven into the story we are introduced to the main players of the time, Grant, Lee, McClellan, Jefferson Davis and the great emancipator himself, Abraham Lincoln. General McClellan brave professional soldier that he was is not portrayed kindly here, and with good reason. The presidents character is only mentioned in passing but the author paints him as an unheroic figure which is how most contemporaries saw him at the time, vacillating and indecisive. It is only later in the sequel "Love & War" that we are given glimpses of his potential greatness. But mostly I was surprised at the incompetence and corruption of the union army and politicians which was not that evident at the time. Many union sympathisers saw this as the War of Seccession not the war for slave emancipation. Racism and prejudice and hypocrisy was just as rife in the union army as it was on any southern plantation. But I digress. I did however learn more here about this period of american history than ever I learnt in a school text book. But that just says more about the author I guess. I recommend this to all american history buffs. Including the sequels "Love & War" and "Heaven & Hell". Even if the historical minutiae doesnt grab you the tale of love and hate and romance and loyalty and patriotism surely will.

Don't believe me? Read these books. North and South is set during the Civil War, which as I'd said in the review of
Glory In The Name, was a war of transition. However, it's more than that. It's the story of two families. The Hazards and the Mains. George Hazard and Orry Main meet at West
Point and they couldn't be any more different. Orry Main,
originally De Main, is descended from a wealthy Heugenot,
(French Protestant), family. George Hazard, on the other hand, is descended from a fugitive. Orry and George interact with Ulysses S. Grant, and other historical figures like Robert E. Lee, and John Brown. This isn't about the naval
war of the Civil War. If you want to read about that, Glory In The Name's your best bet. Orry's in love with a woman who's married to a sadistic bastard. North and South is basically about the land war of the Civil War.

North and South is the first novel in a trilogy dealing with the American Civil War, and it is truly a remarkable work; well worth reading. I myself have read the novel many times over the past twenty years. The novel focuses on two families--the Hazards of Pennsylvania, and the Mains of South Carolina--during the period from approximately 1840 through the beginning of the Civil War. These two families, bound by close ties of friendship (the sons of each are best friends at West Point and serve in the Army together during the Mexican War) and marriage, find these ties tested by the powerful forces of political and social strife that rocked the country during this period, ultimately leading to civil war.

This is a great story. Author John Jakes does a tremendous job of transporting the reader into the period immediately before the Civil War. The country was torn by political strife that could not be resolved by the ordinary institutions of civil government, and Jakes does a masterful job of explaining this within the format of a novel, and showing how this atmosphere affected ordinary people, and their friendships and relationships. The Hazards and the Mains are unforgettable. Jakes shows how decent people (as well as people not so decent) interacted with the institution of slavery on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.

One of the best parts of the novel deals with the period during the 1840s when the two main protagonists are classmates together at West Point. This is a well-researched tale that is very insightful as regards life and strife at the military academy during a pivotal period of American history. It helps the reader understand the important role that West Point played in the nation's history during the Mexican War and, of course, the Civil War. And perhaps today.

This novel rates the overused label of "classic" and in my opinion represents one of the very best novels of the Civil War. It is, incidentally, the best novel of Jakes" "North and South" trilogy.