Cain at Gettysburg

The New York Times–bestselling author "surpasses Michael Shaara's classic The Killer Angels" with this stirring novel of the Civil War's most epic battle (Booklist, starred review)

Two mighty armies blunder toward each other, one led by confident, beloved Robert E. Lee and the other by dour George Meade. They'll meet in a Pennsylvania crossroads town where no one planned to fight. In this sweeping novel, the greatest battle ever fought on American soil explodes into life.


Following a tough Confederate sergeant from the Blue Ridge, a bitter Irish survivor of the Great Famine, a German political refugee, and gun crews in blue and gray, Cain at Gettysburg is as grand in scale as its depictions of combat are unflinching.


Through three brutal days of combat, James Longstreet is haunted by a vision of war that leads to a fateful feud with Robert E. Lee. Scheming Dan Sickles nearly destroys his own army. Gallant John Reynolds and obstreperous Win Hancock, fiery William Barksdale and dashing James Johnston Pettigrew, gallop toward their fates. . . .

Winner of the American Library Association's W.Y. Boyd Award for Excellence in Military Fiction