“It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. No book or music would have that beauty. He did not understand it; a mile of men flowing slowly, steadily, inevitably up the long green ground, dying all the while, coming to kill you, and the shell bursts appearing above them like instant white flowers, and the flags all tipping and fluttering, and dimly you could hear the music and the drums, and then you …showed first 75 words of 391 total…

…showed last 75 words of 391 total…Shaara most fully captures the awful fact that, for all its horrors, we love war and recognize it as beauty--the heroism, the camaraderie, the sacrifice, the brutal beauty of men facing their fears, all have an instinctive appeal. As Chamberlain walks the battlefield afterwards: “…he forgot his pain; his heart began to beat quickly, and he felt incredible joy…Lawrence, old son, treasure this moment. Because you feel as good as a man can feel.”