The Last Full Measure

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The Last Full Measure (published May 19, 1998 by Ballantine Books; ISBN 0-345-40491-2) is the sequel to The Killer Angels and Gods and Generals. Together, the three novels complete an American Civil War trilogy relating events from 1858 up to the end of the war.

The Last Full Measure (and Gods and Generals) was written by Jeffrey Shaara after his father, Michael Shaara, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels died in 1988. Employing the same style as the previous two books in the series, The Last Full Measure takes the reader inside the minds of several of the most important officers of the Union and Confederate Armies as they regroup after Gettysburg and march on into the final two years of the war. Returning from the previous novels are General Robert E. Lee and General Joshua Chamberlain. The new addition to this volume is General Ulysses S. Grant, who is given control of the Northern troops after a series of poor commanders have failed to ensure victory.

From the Overland Campaign to the Siege of Petersburg, from Chamberlain's home in Maine to Appomattox Court House, Shaara gives a detailed account of honorable men whose heroism, egotism, and occasional outright incompetence changed the course of United States history.

The novel's title comes from a line in the Gettysburg Address: "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion"

[edit] Film

Filmmaker Ron Maxwell plans to adapt The Last Full Measure for the big screen. He previously did the same for Jeff Shaara's previous novel, Gods and Generals, as well as his father Michael Shaara's novel The Killer Angels, which became the film Gettysburg in 1993.

Media mogul Ted Turner, who helped finance both Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, had purchased the rights around the same time he purchased the rights for Gods and Generals. However, after Gods and Generals opened to poor box office in 2003, he sold the rights to "The Last Full Measure." Until Maxwell can get funding for the picture, plans for making "The Last Full Measure" are on hold.