The Glorious Cause

By: Jeff Shaara

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 25 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

History buffs will rejoice at Jeff Shaara's latest foray into the glorious days of America's founding. This dramatic sequel to his best selling Rise to Rebellion continues his chronicle of the key characters of the American Revolution and animates some of the most compelling scenes in America's history: Washington's harrowing winter at Valley Forge, Benedict Arnold's tragic downfall, and the fiercely-fought battles at Trenton, Brandywine Creek, and Yorktown. Shaara draws his readers into the ethical and strategic dilemmas of his characters. More than simple events, the dates and battles are fleshed out in our imaginations as momentary choices that could easily have turned out differently even with the same actors. Shaara's sequel shows how the philosophical ideas of the Founding Fathers outgrew the library in the theater of war.

©200 Jeff Shaara (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"As in all good historical fiction, Shaara's novel gives historical figures flesh-and-blood viability." (Booklist)
"History master Jeff Shaara scores again...with historical accuracy and a you-are-there immediacy." (The New York Post)

History Brought Alive

Understanding the author's rendition of conversations held, I feel this book along with Rise To Rebellion should be required reading for all high school students in the United States Educational System. Shaara truly "Brings History Alive".

Wonderful personalized perspective

I enjoyed how the author wove the history of the revolutionary war connecting the reader emotionally to our history.

Great Story…..Narration needs work.

The story was amazing as usual however, the narration was not as good as the first book. The narrator in Rise to Rebellion changes his voice for each character. This narrator only starts doing that about halfway into the book, which makes it difficult to follow initially. Once he starts changing his voice for each character, it gets more enjoyable and easier to follow character dialogue. The most irking part was the repeated lines. There was at least a dozen times where the same lines were read twice in succession. It was highly distracting.
OVERALL: Great book, just an average execution of reading or editing the audio.

Good Story

I was eager to listen to this book but was disappointed at the narration. It seemed flat compared to the narration of the first book in the series. After a few chapters, I got use to it and really enjoyed the book. One issue. There were at least a dozen instances where the same sentence was repeated.

Historical Fiction?

While the author calls this a "ficticious" novel, it is in fact a history of the Revolutionary War that has been "fictionalized" by giving each historical character lines to recite and personality development that one does not usually expect in a history book. I was somewhat apprehensive about this approach but now feel that I have received an understanding of the characters and situations on all sides of this conflict. If one is willing to accept that some liberty had to be taken in character development, you are still left with a striking picture of the situations and times that were so crucial in the development of this country. All told a fine work that every history buff will love.

Great book; worth in in every way

I love the study of history, but at times it can become a little dry. This book takes you through the revolutionary war in a way that is anything but dry. What a story!! This book is a great read in every sense.

Wonderfully entertaining; memorable

This was very entertaining to listen to, and I learned so much about what once seemed to me as a sometimes dry history concerning the Revolutionary War. It is a great combination of a good story and good history.

Excellent book, some technical malfunctions

Excellent book; however, there are approximately 50 occasions of a sentence being repeated back to back. That is annoying, but the book itself is great!

Great account of the American revolution

I love historical fiction and this book succeeds on all levels. I also greatly enjoy the end where he recaps what happened to the key characters.

Excellent

As someone else already mentioned I wish we could have all our youth “read” this. I’ve read a lot on the subject and this was fantastic in my opinion. Narration was top notch.