The Long Roll

The thunder of artillery and the weight of history collide in Mary Johnston's sweeping Civil War epic. When Virginia secedes from the Union, young Richard Cleave answers the call to arms, marching proudly behind the legendary 'Stonewall' Jackson after the Confederate victory at Bull Run. Johnston, daughter of a Confederate veteran and cousin to General Joseph E. Johnston, renders the Valley Campaign of 1862 with electrifying precision, Jackson's bold cavalry maneuvers and ingenious strategies offering desperate hope to a young nation careening toward annihilation. But war demands its price, and as Cleave matures from eager volunteer to battle-hardened artilleryman, the staggering cost of glory becomes unbearable: the dead, the dying, the limb-littered fields leading to Chancellorsville where everything changes. Johnston captures both the gallantry and the horror of America's bloodiest conflict with the authority of blood memory, crafting a grand tradition of Southern literature that predates and informs later masterworks.