Book Review--Pittsburg Landing

Clark, Robert Burns. Pittsburg Landing. Definitive Words Cyber Publishing, 283 pages. ISBN 9780985537500, $19.95.

Best known for his work as a writer and producer for The Dukes of Hazzard, Robert Burns Clark is a veteran writer with many credits under his belt. Pittsburg Landing however is his first novel. While showing promise this is a book that could have been improved through better editing (was the term "slacker" really used in the 1860's?). In addition, having tied his story to a major Civil War battle it seems Burns should have had the battle play a more pivotal role and the setting should have seemed more authentic. A good reading of Killer Angels might have been in order.

The book revolves around two basic story lines. First are Amos Bingham and his son Noah. Amos is a veteran of the Mexican War and from his experiences there he has taken a vow not to fight again. He has never told this to his son Noah who feels his father is a coward for not joining a local regiment. Noah vows to save the family name and despite being too young is able to join an infantry unit. Amos leaves home to find his son and bring him home. Unfortunately along the way his character becomes repetitive and predictable.

The other major story involves Union officer William Moore. We follow Moore through his reenlistment in the army, his budding love affair with the headstrong daughter of a friend, and his call to the front ultimately leading him to battle at Pittsburg Landing.

The story leads the major characters to the gruesome battle that took place in Tennessee at Pittsburg Landing. With over 23,000 casualties at this battle readers should expect for there to be bloodshed, loss, and lives changed forever.

Overall this was a fast reading story and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The fact that I kept turning the pages means there is something there despite the fact that as Civil War fiction I think there is better out there. I didn't finish the book wanting to know more about the actual battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing). Rather, I felt I had just read a war related book that could have been set at any battle and possibly at any time. And some times that's OK.

Pittsburg Landing won Honorable Mention at the 2012 San Francisco Book Festival in the fiction category.

Please feel free to keep up with Mr. Clark by going to his website.

Thanks to Susan Schwartzman Public Relations for sending a complimentary review copy.

Press Release--New Civil War Book from Robert Burns Clark

DUKES OF HAZZARD PRODUCER & WRITER
ROBERT BURNS CLARK
COMMEMORATES THE 150 ANNIVERSARY OF THE CIVIL WAR WITH HIS DEBUT NOVEL

PITTSBURG LANDING

A HISTORICAL NOVEL ABOUT A BRUTAL BATTLE
& HOW IT AFFECTTED THE LIVES OF HUSBANDS, CHILDREN, WIVES & LOVERS

Advance praise from Amazon Reviewers:

“ When I read that Robert Clark, of Dukes of Hazzard Fame, wrote a book, I had to read it. ”

“ Make sure you set aside some time to read this book
because you're not going to want to put it down.

“ I really liked the love story woven into the history of the battle. ”

PITTSBURG LANDING is a powerful story centered on the brutal Civil War battle of the same name, also known by the Union as Shiloh , which was fought April 6-7, 1862. Far beyond an accurate and moving chronicle of a Civil War Battle, PITTSBURG LANDING (Definitive Words; July 2012) is a seamless melding of true characters and events from the Civil War era and imaginative fiction, showing how real men and women, husbands and wives, lovers, families and children were affected by those turbulent and wrenching events. PITTSBURG LANDING is as beautiful as it is stirring, with complex characters and masterful storytelling that puts the reader right in the middle of one of the most dramatic and tragic periods in our nation’s history.

On April 6 and 7, 1862, twenty-three thousand men were killed or wounded at a battle fought at obscure post on the Tennessee River . PITTSBURG LANDING tells the story of two of those men: their bravery, their loves and their loss.

Major William Moore, a forty-two-year-old Union Officer and West Point graduate, only reluctantly volunteers for a war where brother is turned against brother. Training his troops in Indiana he is reacquainted with Sarah Delaney, the now grown daughter of an old friend. She is twenty-two, a skilled surgical assistant, beautiful, determined and fiercely anti-war. Still suffering from the loss of his wife and child, Will finds himself falling in love. Sarah unashamedly pursues the romance, and they marry. Ten days later, he is called to the front. Believing that she will never see her husband again, she joins a surgical unit and arrives to find him on the field, critically wounded.

Amos Bingham of Alabama is a veteran of the Mexican War, during which, in one night, he single-handedly killed thirty-four men and boys. Shaken by that deed, he has sworn to never take a life again. When his son runs away to join the fighting, he rushes to save him, vowing to destroy anyone who gets in his way, no matter the color of the uniform.

Robert Burns Clark, a native of the North Carolina hills, produced Moonrunners, which was the basis for the hit TV show, The Dukes of Hazzard, and wrote many episodes of the TV hit show. Clark meticulously researched and worked on PITTSBURG LANDING for more than a decade. The book is a heartfelt attempt to rip away the mythology—though there was great heroism—from a bloody and brutal era. Its purpose is to show how real Americans—men, women and children—were affected by those events in the hope that Americans will only ever be led into the jaws of war through serious and sober deliberation.

PITTSBURG LANDING was recently recognized as a 2012 Honorable Mention Winner for General Fiction by the prestigious San Francisco Book Festival.

For more information, please visit www.robertburnsclark.com.