"Mary Johnston's THE LONG ROLL and CEASE FIRING are quite possibly the best Civil War novels ever written..."
The Long Roll truly captures the epic scale of the Civil War. It follows the journey of Richard Cleave, a Confederate officer, and General "Stonewall" Jackson as they fight their way through the Valley Campaign and the battles of Manassas (Bull Run), the Seven Days, Malvern Hill, Second Manassas and Sharpsburg (Antietam).
Details of strategy, tactics, and logistics are brilliantly mixed with penetrating descriptions of raw, almost suicidal, courage. Add to that some genuine insight into the confused motives that caused the war, and you have a "must read" for any Civil War or history buff.
“[It] is more of a history than a novel. But it is a history in which not only the facts, but the emotions and desires of a great people are told.”
William and Mary Quarterly
