About this title: E. L. Doctorow digs deeply into American history once again in this epic tale of Sherman's march to the sea--a 60-mile trail of death and destruction--toward the end of the Civil War. Mingling real historical figures with imagined ordinary people, Doctorow offers a panoramic view of the South and of the war in a story that encompasses a dedicated battlefield nurse, a black ragtime pianist, a young and beautiful slave named Pearl, a brutal good ol' boy addicted to violence--and, of course, the hot-blooded Sherman and his scorched-earth military tactics that, for all their brutality, may have ...
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 09/2005
ISBN-13:9780375506710ISBN:0375506713
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 363 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 09/2005
ISBN-13:9780375506710ISBN:0375506713
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 363 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780375506710ISBN:0375506713
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Except for book plate, this is near fine, clean, unmarked copy. 363 p.; 25 cm. Glued binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780375506710ISBN:0375506713
Description: Excellent. Some rubbing and tears to top of the dust jacket. The prequel to Ragtime and a fine story about Sherman's March ot the Sea. It is hoped Doctorow will continue with the story of Coalhouse Walker, Sr. Seller loved this and couldn't put it down. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780375506710ISBN:0375506713
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. DJ has very minor wear, binding is tight and square, pages are clean and unmarked. Glued binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 363 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780375506710ISBN:0375506713
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780812976151ISBN:0812976150
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. A former library book with the usual identifiers. -, Trade PaperBack, Very Good / read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780812976151ISBN:0812976150
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. A former library book with the usual identifiers. -, Trade PaperBack, Very Good / read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780812976151ISBN:0812976150
Description: A good reading copy only. Previous owners name inscribed inside front. May have underlining or highlighting throughout. -, Trade PaperBack, Good / read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780375506710ISBN:0375506713
Description: Good in Good jacket. 325-X. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780375506710ISBN:0375506713
Description: Good in Good jacket. 320-Z Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"I read The March as part of a class on a Story Cycles and Novellas, despite the fact that it is, technically, neither. Instead, The March is a complex, crowded novel. It shares a few attributes of story cycles, such as introducing a wide variety of characters, shifting points of view and the fact that it is broken up into three distinct parts, while still remaining a novel, at the heart of it.
It is hard to review E.L. Doctorow, since he is a truly gifted (and well known) author. I haven't read all of his work, so I'm not sure how this book compares to his other writing, but certainly this has to be among his best. I say this even though I'm not sure I would have picked up this book on my own, or without strong recommendation. I wouldn't have been drawn to a Revolutionary War book, and it would have been my loss. There are times when the story dragged for me, and places where I felt tired more than engaged. But it seemed that every time this would give way to a section of writing that would amaze me. Oh, I'd think. Now this is good writing. This is how you write a sentence.
Truly, at the end, what I loved most about The March were the sentences. More than the characters, more than the plot and more, even, than the rich historical detail that appeared effortlessly on each page."
"An inside look and feel of Sherman's March in a multiple perspective, raw, and human sort of way. The amount of research that must have gone into this makes me appreciate the setting and the characters as well. I enjoyed Gen. Sherman's character, however much of it was fictional. He was funny at times but also dark and desperate. There is a great hodgepodge of characters- all of which are have a nomadic quality- i liked this because they developed in situations that perhaps they were thrust into. Interesting. And of course the writing is quality- i really felt like i got a better picture and feeling of what this event was about versus just knowing facts."
"The March is a book that people would either really despise or really enjoy reading. I loved reading this book because it was filled with vivid descriptions of history of the Civil War and it contained a little bit of comedy. This wonderful book by E.L> Doctorow describes General Sherman's march from Georgia all the way to North Carolina. As his troops burned and destroyed everything in their path, President Abraham Lincoln was trying to free all of the black slaves. General Sherman lead thousands of slaves to freedom from the Rebs. This book explains the point of view from the lives of many differ Unionists on the march.I strongly recommend this book to anyone that like history and to everyone that doesn't like history, it is still an amazing and exciting story."
"Doctorow is best known for Ragtime. He is also the author of several other historical novels including Billy Bathgate and The Book of Daniel. The March another historical novel describes Sherman's march at the end of the Civil War.
Writing an historical novel is difficult because, by definition, the author must stick closely with the historical facts and develop characters. The best historical novels also provide an excellent picture of the times. Without doing further research it must be admitted that Doctorow sticks with the facts. He does not meet the remaining criteria.
Battles are fought and Sherman's army steadily moves through Georgia, then to Columbia, South Carolina and finally to Goldsboro Junction where the war ends. Sherman's object was to bring the Confederacy to its knees by destroying everything in his army's way. Farms and cities were burned, railroads and factories destroyed and Negro slaves freed.
His description of the times is only partially compelling. He succeeds in describing the North's attitude toward freed slaves. Confederate forces were still active and frequently tried to stop Sherman's advance. At the book's beginning several hundred freed slaves trying to stay with Sherman to avoid CSA forces, were sacrificed when Sherman refused to permit them to cross a pontoon bridge and remain under his army's protection. Later, when he was advancing against CSA General Joe Johnston, Sherman once again sends the newly freed slaves off in a different direction to survive as best they can without the army's care.
Doctorow is only partially successful in describing the times because he does not get into the minds and hearts of Southerners. There is little description of how desperate and confused these people were once they realized that their livelihoods and way of life were destroyed forever. How were they going to live with burned farms and cities as well as without their most valuable property and work force: slaves?
March's most serious problem is poor and chaotic character development. Apparently Doctorow has watched too many TV dramas like Dallas and West Wing where action rapidly shifts between scenes. His rapid scene changing and replacing one character with another results in inadequate time to develop characters.
The most developed character is Pearl, the child of a black master and a slave who passes for white. Through a series of meetings and adventures with various white men she losses her slave accent and learns to read. At the conclusion there is promise that she might attend college and become one of the first female doctors.
Dr. Wrede Satorius, a European field surgeon in the employ of the Union Army, provides Doctorow with a means to describe the horrors of Civil War battlefield medicine. Amputations were so frequent that after battles a huge pile of newly separated arms and legs waited burial. Satorius is almost cartoon like. He has superior surgical skills and is contemptuous of his fellow army surgeons. Doctorow simply stops developing this character. Sherman is also inadequately developed. There is no explanation of his motivation and how he commanded.
Sherman's march has the material for a good novel but it is yet to be written."
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