A Historian's Treasure in "An Eye for Glory" by Karl A. Bacon (review)

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingAn Eye For GloryZondervan (February 28, 2011)byKarl BaconABOUT THE AUTHOR

A word from the author:
I grew up in the small picturesque town of Woodbury, Connecticut. After graduating from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, I returned to Connecticut and found employment in manufacturing. “Just a job” turned into a professional career, much of which was spent working for a Swiss machine tool company. In 2000 I started my own business to provide services to manufacturing clients across the USA. This change also allowed time to develop my writing craft.



From youth I’ve been a serious student of the Civil War. The draft of An Eye for Glory took ten years from conception to completion. Thousands of hours were spent researching every detail through copious reading, Internet research and personal visits to each battlefield so the novel might be as historically accurate and believable as possible. I live in Naugatuck, Connecticut with my wife of thirty-three years, Jackie.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Michael Palmer is a good man, a family man. But honor and duty push him to leave his comfortable life and answer the call from Abraham Lincoln to fight for his country. This 'citizen soldier' learns quickly that war is more than the battle on the field. Long marches under extreme conditions, illness, and disillusionment challenge at every turn. Faith seems lost in a blur of smoke and blood...and death.


Michael's only desire is to kill as many Confederate soldiers as he can so he can go home. He coldly counts off the rebels that fall to his bullets. Until he is brought up short by a dying man holding up his Bible. It's in the heat of battle at Gettysburg and the solemn aftermath that Michael begins to understand the grave cost of the war upon his soul. Here the journey really begins as he searches for the man he was and the faith he once held so dearly. With the help of his beloved wife, Jesse Ann, he takes the final steps towards redemption and reconciliation.


Using first-hand accounts of the 14th Connecticut Infantry, Karl Bacon has crafted a detailed, genuine and compelling novel on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Intensely personal and accurate to the times, culture, and tragedy of the Civil War, An Eye for Glory may change you in ways you could have never imagined as well.


If you would like to read the first chapter of An Eye For Glory, go HERE.


Watch book video trailer:









My Review:

I have always held a fascination for the Civil War. I studied it extensively in high school and it still remains one of my favorite periods of history. So when I had the chance to read “Eye for Glory”, I took the chance.

This book isn’t a romance and I wasn’t expecting one, but I want to ‘warn’ those romance readers out there, that this book is more for the history guru. I have always enjoyed documentaries about the Civil War and this book does read a bit like a documentary. But what makes it a cut above is the reader is inside the head of the main character. The book is driven by the setting and how it in turn affects the main character, Michael.

I was on those battlefields. The author did his research. I was taken from the 21^st century and plopped into the 19^th with cannons lobbed around me. I could smell the sulfur and feel the fear.

The characterization in Michael was well done. I enjoyed how he grew and in some cases-regressed. The ending came around in a great and even a bit surprising way.

Over all, it’s a good book. I think lovers of history and especially those of us who are interested in the Civil War would enjoy this novel.

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers through CFBA for my copy to review.