The third part of the Shaara Civil War trilogy, The Last Full Measure represents the changing tide of battle, as the South becomes little more than a romantic notion, and the North charges into Total War behind new commander Ulysses S. Grant.

Whereas Stonewall Jackson dominates Jeff Shaara's Gods and Generals, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's story is most compelling in father Michael's Killer Angels, (made into the motion picture Gettysburg), Grant is the central figure for Jeff Shaara in the Union's drive for victory post-Gettysburg.

It could be said that Lee lost the war when Jackson fell at Chancellorsville, two months prior to Gettysburg, as emotionally portrayed in God and Generals. After July 1863, Lee was able to inflict large numbers of casualties on the Union forces at Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, but the Confederates had neither the material nor the number of troops to match the onslaught of the Union, especially once Grant was in charge of the entirety of Northern troops.

The death of Lincoln ripped apart the nascent healing of a battered nation struggling to put the deep and bloody wounds behind. ... In the South the voices of reason understood that they had lost the one man who was after all not the enemy, that with the muskets stacked and the cannon silent, Lincoln was the only man with the power and the influence to put the war behind them all, who wanted nothing more than to bind up the wounds, to reunite the people into one strong voice, the voice of hope and freedom. ... What had not been taken away from the southern people by the great crushing weight of the war would now be taken by a new kind of violence, a policy of reconstruction that would do everything Lincoln would not. ... Instead of healing, the wounds would be probed and ripped, would become scars that would never quite close, would be kept alive with anger and hostility for generations.

Eventually Lee runs out of both, and his scrambles to find ground to fight end as he's surrounded and resigned to surrender at Appomattox in April, 1865.

The central story of Grant is the most refreshing, since he's a 'character' introduced only in the third book of the trilogy, and the detail and organization of the Feds is both interesting and enlightening. One aspect that brings a touch of the scope of the novel and the war are Grant's meetings with President Lincoln, whether in Washington or behind the lines in southern Virginia.

Shaara portrays Lincoln as one of the most thoughtful and dedicated men in the war, determined to win at all costs in the face of opposition in both the South and the North. He and Grant have a friendly, warm relationship, and when you hear of Lincoln's assassination it is truly heartbreaking, as it is for the country still today when recollecting the tragedies of Reconstruction.

As for the merits of the book itself, I think Shaara greatly improved over the weaknesses of Gods and Generals. The interpersonal bits aren't as mushy, and Shaara doesn't feel the need to use too much flowery language in an effort to sound scholarly or emotional.

Unlike Gods and Generals, when the first 100 pages or so of Shaara's introduction to the people pre-war, The Last Full Measure doesn't bog down in the final 50 pages post-war. The story is still interesting, and the reader is interested as Shaara jumps several years ahead as Lee dies, Grant writes his memoirs after his presidency, and Chamberlain visits Gettysburg on the 50th anniversary of the event.

The battles are still the best parts, though, which may have much to do with my personal biases, enjoying the rush of conflict and vivid descriptions of troop movements and action/reaction.

The one person who maintains a level of interest for me throughout is Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a relatively unknown among Civil War legends, but it's clear that he was a key figure in the Union army among leaders and foot soldiers equally. He was in the forefront of many major Army of the Potomac battles, and the Shaaras use of him was genius, because of how little I know Chamberlain, but grew to adore every bit of his experience.

Gettysburg set the bar for epic Civil War movies, a level Gods and Generals was unable to clear or even come close, but I truly hope Ted Turner keeps the faith and ends the saga with The Last Full Measure. It could be a monumental motion picture, with much of the base from Jeff Shaara's solid work in the novel.