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Title details for To the Last Man by Jeff Shaara - Available

To the Last Man

A Novel of the First World War

by Jeff Shaara
Paul Michael
Audiobook
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1 of 1 copy available
Jeff Shaara has enthralled readers with his New York Times bestselling novels set during the Civil War and the American Revolution. Now the acclaimed author turns to World War I, bringing to life the sweeping, emotional story of the war that devastated a generation and established America as a world power.
Spring 1916: the horror of a stalemate on Europe’s western front. France and Great Britain are on one side of the barbed wire, a fierce German army is on the other. Shaara opens the window onto the otherworldly tableau of trench warfare as seen through the eyes of a typical British soldier who experiences the bizarre and the horrible–a “Tommy” whose innocent youth is cast into the hell of a terrifying war.
In the skies, meanwhile, technology has provided a devastating new tool, the aeroplane, and with it a different kind of hero emerges–the flying ace. Soaring high above the chaos on the ground, these solitary knights duel in the splendor and terror of the skies, their courage and steel tested with every flight.
As the conflict stretches into its third year, a neutral America is goaded into war, its reluctant president, Woodrow Wilson, finally accepting the repeated challenges to his stance of nonalignment. Yet the Americans are woefully unprepared and ill equipped to enter a war that has become worldwide in scope. The responsibility is placed on the shoulders of General John “Blackjack” Pershing, and by mid-1917 the first wave of the American Expeditionary Force arrives in Europe. Encouraged by the bold spirit and strength of the untested Americans, the world waits to see if the tide of war can finally be turned.
From Blackjack Pershing to the Marine in the trenches, from the Red Baron to the American pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille, To the Last Man is written with the moving vividness and accuracy that characterizes all of Shaara’s work. This spellbinding new novel carries readers–the way only Shaara can–to the heart of one of the greatest conflicts in human history, and puts them face-to-face with the characters who made a lasting impact on the world.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 6, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415950678
      • File size: 900644 KB
      • Duration: 31:16:20

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Seen from the eyes of the fighting men, the author's engaging novel captures the Great War's infamy for futility and needless death. Told in an unconventional style using abundant short phrases and incomplete sentences, the scenes of exploding action and personal tragedy contain riveting detail. Using skilled accents in four languages--American and British English, German, and French--Paul Michael develops his many characters' individual personalities. Since the narrative switches among concurrent, separate stories, Michael's changing accents magnify our ability to follow and enjoy the novel. The compelling production transports listeners to the suffering of the entrenched infantry living in lice-filled uniforms and the pilots who stood in their cockpits to reach the firing mechanism of their machine guns. In a thick German accent, the historic Red Baron comes to life in a way that no printed page could ever portray. J.A.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 11, 2004
      Moving on from the American Revolution and the Civil War, Shaara (The Glorious Cause
      , etc.) delivers an epic account of the American experience in WWI. As usual, he narrates from the perspective of actual historical figures, moving from the complexity of high-level politics and diplomacy to the romance of the air fight and the horrors of trench warfare. Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing commands all American forces in France in 1917–1918 and must prepare his army for a new kind of war while resisting French and British efforts to absorb his troops into their depleted, worn-out units. Two aviators, American Raoul Lufbery and German Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) fly primitive aircraft in an air war that introduces new ways to die. And Pvt. Roscoe Temple, U.S. Marine Corps, fights with rifle and bayonet in the mud and blood of Belleau Wood and the Argonne Forest. These men and a supporting cast of other real-life characters provide a gruesomely graphic portrayal of the brutality and folly of total war. Shaara's storytelling is occasionally mechanical—he has yet to rise to the Pulitzer Prize–winning level of his father, Michael Shaara (The Killer Angels
      , etc.)—but his descriptions of individual combat in the air and the mass slaughter on the ground are stark, vivid and gripping. He also offers compelling portraits of the politicians and generals whose strategies and decisions killed millions and left Europe a discontented wasteland. (Nov.)

      Forecast:
      Numbers-wise, this should match Shaara's previous efforts, helped along by a 12-city author tour and vigorous promotion.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Real-life WWI figures such as General John "Black Jack" Pershing and Baron Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) mix with Jeff Shaara's fictional characters in this novel with a documentary feel. Philip Bosco narrates with a dramatic sense that prevents the necessary historical background from becoming dry and brings the fictional elements to life. The moments that shine are the most human ones: a soldier reading a letter from relatives in Italian or the members of the Lafayette Escadrille comparing notes after a rough physical exam. The novel creates a sense of being on the scene, from the trenches of the battlefield to the skies over Europe. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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