From Publishers Weekly
The most celebrated firefight of the Civil War is retold once again in this engaging study. Historian and journalist LaFantasie does a good job narrating the Gettysburg campaign and the course of the battle up to the Little Round Top crisis and, using a wealth of memoirs and diaries, draws colorful profiles of many key participants. The author struggles to find a new angle on this oft-told story, but manages a refreshingly critical attitude and a wider perspective than many recent studies, which have primarily fixated on the exploits of the 20th Maine regiment and its famous commander, Joshua Chamberlain. He corrects some of the mythology that's grown up around this unit-asserting that the 20th didn't run out of ammunition and that its climactic bayonet charge just hurried along a Confederate retreat-in-progress-and he devotes much attention to other regiments whose part in the fighting was at least as important. LaFantasie terms "poppycock" claims that the defense of the hill saved the Union; the only moral it offers, he feels, is a lugubrious one about the carnage and futility of war, which he embellishes in sections on the suffering of the wounded and on Civil War-era mourning customs. Still, this is Gettysburg, not the Somme, and LaFantasie can't help getting caught up in a vivid, at times stirring account of the heroism and pathos of the battle. Photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
LaFantasie's history meticulously recounts a five-hour segment of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg: the struggle for Little Round Top. Among Civil War buffs, two regimental commanders involved, Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Maine and William C. Oates of the 15th Alabama, have achieved exalted reputations due to popularization by filmmaker Ken Burns and novelist Michael Shaara. Without diminishing the roles of Chamberlain and Oates, about whom LaFantasie is writing a dual biography, following one by Mark Perry (Conceived in Liberty, 1997), the author embeds their actions within those of their units (brigades and divisions), which precipitated the clash at Little Round Top. Once LaFantasie explains the hill's tactical centrality to controlling the entire Gettysburg battlefield, and the marching routes by which Union and Confederate officers led their units there, the author synthesizes from survivors' accounts a narrative of the ensuing combat. Such a thing defies imagination, but LaFantasie renders a graphic notion of the din and death there and reorients readers toward crucial figures unduly eclipsed by the fame of Chamberlain and Oates. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Few military episodes of the Civil War have attracted as much attention as the struggle for Little Round Top on the second day of Gettysburg. This judicious and engaging book navigates confidently through a welter of contradictory testimony to present a splendid account of the action. It also places events on Little Round Top, which often are exaggerated, within the broader sweep of the battle. All readers interested in the battle of Gettysburg will read this book with enjoyment and profit." —Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War

"Here is the real story of the epic fight for Little Round Top, shorn of the mythology long obscuring this pivotal Gettysburg moment. A vivid and eloquent book." —Stephen W. Sears, author of Gettysburg

"In his beautifully written narrative, Glenn LaFantasie tells the story of the battle for Little Round Top from the perspective of the soldiers who fought and died in July 1863. Using well-chosen quotes from a wide variety of battle participants, TWILIGHT puts the reader in the midst of the fight—firing from behind boulders with members of the 4th Alabama, running up the hillside into battle with the men of the 140th New York, and watching in horror as far too many men die. This book offers an elegy to the courage of those men, a meditation on the meaning of war, and a cautionary tale about the sacrifices nations ask of their soldiers and the causes for which those sacrifices are needed." --Amy Kinsel, Winnrer of the 1993 Allan Nevins Prize for From These Honored Dead: Gettysburg in American Culture

"Little Round Top has become iconic in Civil War literature and American memory. In the emotional recollection of our great war, if there was one speck on the landscape that decided a battle and the future of a nation, then surely this was it. The story of the July 2, 1863 struggle for that hill outside Gettysburg goes deeper into our consciousness than that, however. The men who fought for it then and there believed it to be decisive, and that is why they died for it. Glenn W. LaFantasie's TWILIGHT AT LITTLE ROUND TOP addresses that epic struggle, how those warriors felt then and later, and their physical and emotional attachment to a piece of ground that linked them forever with their nation's fate. This is military and social history at its finest." --W.C. Davis, author of Lincoln's Men and An Honorable Defeat


Book Description
THE BATTLE OF LITTLE ROUND TOP AS IT HAS NEVER BEFORE SEEN-THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT THERE

"Here is the real story of the epic fight for Little Round Top, shorn of the mythology long obscuring this pivotal Gettysburg moment. A vivid and eloquent book." —Stephen W. Sears, author of Gettysburg

"Little Round Top has become iconic in Civil War literature and American memory. In the emotional recollection of our great war, if there was one speck on the landscape that decided a battle and the future of a nation, then surely this was it. The story of the July 2, 1863 struggle for that hill outside Gettysburg goes deeper into our consciousness than that, however. The men who fought for it then and there believed it to be decisive, and that is why they died for it. Glenn W. LaFantasie's Twilight at Little Round Top addresses that epic struggle, how those warriors felt then and later, and their physical and emotional attachment to a piece of ground that linked them forever with their nation's fate. This is military and social history at its finest." —W.C. Davis, author of Lincoln's Men and An Honorable Defeat

"Few military episodes of the Civil War have attracted as much attention as the struggle for Little Round Top on the second day of Gettysburg. This judicious and engaging book navigates confidently through a welter of contradictory testimony to present a splendid account of the action. It also places events on Little Round Top, which often are exaggerated, within the broader sweep of the battle. All readers interested in the battle of Gettysburg will read this book with enjoyment and profit." —Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War

"In his beautifully written narrative, Glenn LaFantasie tells the story of the battle for Little Round Top from the perspective of the soldiers who fought and died in July 1863. Using well-chosen quotes from a wide variety of battle participants, TWILIGHT puts the reader in the midst of the fight—firing from behind boulders with members of the 4th Alabama, running up the hillside into battle with the men of the 140th New York, and watching in horror as far too many men die. This book offers an elegy to the courage of those men, a meditation on the meaning of war, and a cautionary tale about the sacrifices nations ask of their soldiers and the causes for which those sacrifices are needed." —Amy Kinsel, Winnrer of the 1993 Allan Nevins Prize for From These Honored Dead: Gettysburg in American Culture

From the Inside Flap
On every battlefield, decisive ground can often determine which army will win and which will lose. In the Civil War, one of those decisive places was Little Round Top. In the late afternoon of July 2, 1863, thousands of men from the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia and the Union’s Army of the Potomac struggled over this small parcel of terrain, many of them giving their lives in a heroic effort to capture or to defend the hill’s rocky slopes and summit. Now, acclaimed author Glenn LaFantasie sheds new light on this legendary battle by telling the story as it really happened, through the eyes of the courageous men who fought there.

Written by one of the most historians of the Civil War period. Twilight at Little Round Top uses the celebrated “Face of battle” technique to paint a vivid portrait of the second day’s fight at Gettysburg. Told through the experiences of both high-ranking officers and low-ranking privates, LaFantasie’s meticulously researched book is based on newly discovered documents as well as other rate firsthand sources—some of which were mined for the first time from the Oates Family Papers and other private collections—to reconstruct this decisive battle with the dramatic intensity.

Twilight at Little Round Top looks beyond the legendary exploits and heroic tales of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain—who has become known as the savior of Little Round Top—to offer piercing portraits of the other individuals who played a much more pivotal role on the hill, including young Porter Farley from Rochester, New York, who was eager to emancipate America’s slaves by putting his life on the line in battle; Private Billy Jordan, whose family plantation in Alabama depended on slavery; surly and bearish Lieutenant General James Longstreet, blamed for the defeat at Gettysburg by generations of Southerners; and the Union’s Colonel Paddy O’Rorke, whose brave and cool performance on the battlefield belied a gentle and tender heart hidden beneath his Irish mettle.

Brimming with memorable stories of quick wits and formidable courage, Twilight at Little Round Top recounts one day in a brutally devastating war, where grim-faced soldiers gritted their teeth, braved thunder and flames, and flowed their officers’ commands as much as human endurance allowed for the sake of their fluttering flags.

 


From the Back Cover
THE BATTLE OF LITTLE ROUND TOP AS IT HAS NEVER BEFORE SEEN-THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT THERE

"Here is the real story of the epic fight for Little Round Top, shorn of the mythology long obscuring this pivotal Gettysburg moment. A vivid and eloquent book." —Stephen W. Sears, author of Gettysburg

"Little Round Top has become iconic in Civil War literature and American memory. In the emotional recollection of our great war, if there was one speck on the landscape that decided a battle and the future of a nation, then surely this was it. The story of the July 2, 1863 struggle for that hill outside Gettysburg goes deeper into our consciousness than that, however. The men who fought for it then and there believed it to be decisive, and that is why they died for it. Glenn W. LaFantasie's Twilight at Little Round Top addresses that epic struggle, how those warriors felt then and later, and their physical and emotional attachment to a piece of ground that linked them forever with their nation's fate. This is military and social history at its finest." —W.C. Davis, author of Lincoln's Men and An Honorable Defeat

"Few military episodes of the Civil War have attracted as much attention as the struggle for Little Round Top on the second day of Gettysburg. This judicious and engaging book navigates confidently through a welter of contradictory testimony to present a splendid account of the action. It also places events on Little Round Top, which often are exaggerated, within the broader sweep of the battle. All readers interested in the battle of Gettysburg will read this book with enjoyment and profit." —Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War

"In his beautifully written narrative, Glenn LaFantasie tells the story of the battle for Little Round Top from the perspective of the soldiers who fought and died in July 1863. Using well-chosen quotes from a wide variety of battle participants, TWILIGHT puts the reader in the midst of the fight—firing from behind boulders with members of the 4th Alabama, running up the hillside into battle with the men of the 140th New York, and watching in horror as far too many men die. This book offers an elegy to the courage of those men, a meditation on the meaning of war, and a cautionary tale about the sacrifices nations ask of their soldiers and the causes for which those sacrifices are needed." —Amy Kinsel, Winnrer of the 1993 Allan Nevins Prize for From These Honored Dead: Gettysburg in American Culture

About the Author
GLENN W. LaFANTASAIE, the former deputy historian of the U.S. Department of State, is the editor of Gettysburg: Lieutenant Frank A. Haskell and Colonel William C. Oates. His seminal essay on Gettysburg books, published in 1994 in the New York Times Book Review, has received praise from numerous historians. He has also written for several magazines and newspapers, including MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, North & South American History, Constitution, America’s Civil War, the Washington Times, and the Providence Journal. LaFantasie, who lives in Massachusetts, is working on a biography of William C. Oates.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On every battlefield, decisive ground can often determine which army will win and which will lose. In the Civil War, one of those decisive places was Little Round Top. In the late afternoon of July 2, 1863, thousands of men from the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia and the Union's Army of the Potomac struggled over this small parcel of terrain, many of them giving their lives in a heroic effort to capture or to defend the hill's rocky slopes and summit. Now, acclaimed author Glenn LaFantasie sheds new light on this legendary battle by telling the story as it really happened, through the eyes of the courageous men who fought there.

Written by one of the most respected historians of the Civil War period, Twilight at Little Round Top uses the celebrated "face of battle" technique to paint a vivid portrait of the second day's fight at Gettysburg. Told through the experiences of both high-ranking officers and low-ranking privates, LaFantasie's meticulously researched book is based on newly discovered documents as well as other rare firsthand sources-some of which were mined for the first time from the Oates Family Papers and other private collections-to reconstruct this decisive battle with dramatic intensity.

Twilight at Little Round Top looks beyond the legendary exploits and heroic tales of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain-who has become known as the savior of Little Round Top-to offer piercing portraits of the other individuals who played a much more pivotal role on the hill, including young Porter Farley from Rochester, New York, who was eager to emancipate America's slaves by putting his life on the line in battle; Private Billy Jordan, whose family plantation in Alabama depended on slavery; surly and bearish Lieutenant General James Longstreet, blamed for the defeat at Gettysburg by generations of Southerners; and the Union's Colonel Paddy O'Rorke, whose brave and cool performance on the battlefield belied a gentle and tender heart hidden beneath his Irish mettle.

Brimming with memorable stories of quick wits and formidable courage, Twilight at Little Round Top recounts one day in a brutally devastating war, where grim-faced soldiers gritted their teeth, braved thunder and flames, and followed their officers' commands as much as human endurance allowed for the sake of their fluttering flags.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal