The Puppet King PDF Download

This vivid novel views Gettysburg and the climax of Pickett's Charge through the eyes of the men in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and most of all through the eyes of their commander, Robert E. Lee. It is dramatic, at times cinematic, and compelling. It also is quiet, reflective, and moving. The author's intensely personal musings on his own history and on the grand and awful sweep and meaning of American history remind us that neither history nor historical fiction are anything like simple stories about what happened long ago but rather, continuous dialogues with the people who inhabited that past. I admire Rich Fritzky's creativity and his desire to share this story with everyone interested in examining some of the deeper truths of the Civil War. -J. Tracy Power Author of Lee's Miserables: Life in the Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Appomattox Richard Fritzky, writing with a love and passion for-and knowledge of-his subject, has crafted in this novel about Lee at Gettysburg a hybrid mix of events anchored on solid fact, words actually spoken and made up, and acts, thoughts, and emotions inferred. This mix is salted by occasional detours between chapters for personal reflections on words of meaning to Lee-family and heritage, faith, freedom and liberty, sacrifice, duty, and home. All in all, this work of fact, fiction, and reflection combine for a compelling account of Lee on the third day at Gettysburg. -John C. Waugh Author of The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox-Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan and Their Brothers Fritzky is an exceptional human being who has a sensibility that feels the emotions of the past and searches for their historical meaning in the present. -Kent Gramm Author of November, Lincoln's Elegy at Gettysburg This is a well-written, readable, and important work that hopefully reaches a much broader readership than an academic tome. Mr. Fritzky has performed a very important function in writing this book, by contributing toward the maintenance of an historical memory for concerned Americans. If men like Robert E. Lee were to vanish from the historical stage, so too would the principles of honor, duty, and self-sacrifice cease to inform public debate. -Marshall DeRosa Author of The Enduring Influence of Robert E. Lee - the Ideological Warfare Underpinning the American Civil War