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4.0 out of 5 stars
From Colonial Maryland to the (1st) Gulf War, July 12 2004
In this 1996 bestseller Martin follows the fortunes of a Maryland Family, the Staffords, from a tragic French pirate raid up the Chesapeake in1745 to the first flight of a Gulf War pilot in the present generation.A strongly patriarchal family (with no lack of independent women), the Stafford motto remains, through the centuries, "One son for the soil and one son for the sea," meaning one to manage the plantation and one to safeguard it from pirates. And, as time went on, "one for family and one for nation." With the growing city of Annapolis at its hub, the story traces the rise of America. At the heart of the family history is their city house, Stafford's Fine Folly, a mansion that was built and lost and won and lost again through the fortunes, weaknesses and quarrels of generations of Staffords. As the book opens, Jack Stafford, 78, a liberal journalist, is nearing the conclusion of his fictionalized but faithful family history. "But when he came to the grayest area of them all - the things the Staffords had done, and failed to do, in the war that ended certainty for good - he couldn't finish." Jack sends sections of his book to a distant cousin, Susan Browne, an independent filmmaker doing a piece on the Stafford family. As she interviews Jack's brother, Tom, a Navy admiral, and corresponds with Jack and meets their Navy nephew, son of the brother who died in Vietnam, she begins to realize there is unfinished business in the Stafford family. Vietnam has left scars. Between short sections in which Susan probes for the murky secret that divides the brothers, confronts an oddly bitter family connection named Oliver Parrish, and observes with growing emotion the struggle over who gets Stafford's Fine Folly, the reader is treated to Jack's novel. Jack's family history is driven and punctuated by the country's wars and conflicts. Martin is at his best writing action. The sea battles of America's first tiny fleet are captivating, the sense of personal danger immediate, the smell of gunpowder and the slam of cannon balls vivid. Back home the first of the fallings out between the Staffords and the Loyalist Parrishes concerns the loss of a house and a broken promise. A Capulet and Montague relationship right out of Romeo and Juliet seems assured but never quite materializes, mostly because the Staffords aren't hateful enough. Or else they're just plain oblivious. The families' rivalry continues through the Civil War when the Staffords themselves are divided. Slave-owning but patriotic Annapolis Academy veterans and friends to presidents from Washington on, all but one of the Stafford men remain Union. Martin doesn't ignore the politics of the times but the battles themselves command most of his attention. Much of the suspense derives from Martin's riveting descriptions of fear and exhiliration, noise and blood and lightning-quick changes of fortune. And part of the suspense is due to never knowing who will survive. Many Staffords die in battle and Martin seldom gives warning. After the Civil War, while the book remains a thoroughly enjoyable read, the politics grow more complicated and the family becomes harder to keep track of, simply because there are now so many to remember. The present, and the family secret, exerts a stronger pull. Martin does not disappoint. In a few short chapters he brings to life the ugliness of Vietnam from the innermost circles of power to the intimate gore in the jungle. In a two-pronged conclusion, he delivers a shocking blow and a catharsis strong enough to heal the family. A rousing and suspenseful saga.
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