A Guide To The Complete Works Of Newt Gingrich, Novelist

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1||Is America ready for a novelist-in-chief?

Many people know that former House Speaker and recently-announced Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has pumped out a number of political books and documentaries in recent years. But since 1995, Gingrich has also co-authored 8 works of historical fiction with William R. Forstchen, a Faculty Fellow at Montreat College in North Carolina. In fact, Gingrich and Forstchen have published a novel nearly every year since 2003 — and 2011 won’t hurt their average. “The Battle of the Crater,” set during the Civil War, is scheduled to be published in November.

Of the eight novels already published, three, including the first, “1945,” are alternative histories set in the World War II era. Three others are alternate histories set during the Civil War. And the two most recently published works dramatize the events of the Revolutionary War. Armed with an e-reader, TPM took a look at Newt’s novels this week. Here is our report.||newscom/AB5 WENN Photos&&

2||Title: “1945”

Year published: 1995

Synopsis: “Introducing Lieutenant Commander James Martel. He’s the right man in the right place at a very bad time…

The year is 1945. In Europe, the Third Reich reigns triumphant. The Soviet Union is a fragment of its former self, and Britain has accepted a dictated armistice. In the Pacific, after a brief, sharp war with Japan, America is the only significant military presence. Now the world’s two superpowers eye each other warily across an Atlantic Ocean that daily grows smaller. The Big Show is about to start…”

–Book jacket, first edition.

Last sentence: “In the nearby communications room, John Mayhew flung down his headphones and snarled with frustration and despair.”

Number of maps included before prologue: 4

Page on which George H.W. Bush is mentioned as a young pilot: 10

Memorable moments:

“Okay! Okay! There is something more,” he said hurriedly, laughing with just a hint of nervousness. He stirred at the movement of her fingers, which were no longer on his chest.

“Can’t it wait just a little while?” he panted, suddenly wanting her very much.

“If you promise faithfully…”

“I promise. Everything!” She was truly an artist…

His next coherent words were:
“We’re making this new kind of bomb…”

“What about resistance from the civilians?” Karl asked. “I understand that most Americans own guns and know how to use them.”

Skorzeny shook his head and laughed. “Maybe in other parts of the country, but Oak Ridge is special. The Federal government runs the facility and in a typically brilliant display of bureaucratic wisdom has decreed that no one living in Oak Ridge may own a firearm. If it wasn’t for that our job would be a lot more difficult.”

||amazon.com&&

3||Title: “Gettysburg”

Year published: 2003

Synopsis: “This well-executed alternative history imagines a Confederate victory at Gettysburg. Former House speaker Gingrich (Contract with America) and historical fiction author Forstchen (Down to the Sea) create a plausible scenario: Robert E. Lee resolves to command, rather than merely coordinate, the efforts of that gaggle of prima donnas known as the high command of the Army of Northern Virginia.”

Publishers Weekly

Last sentence: “With all possible speed I am ordering you to take whatever steps are necessary to defeat the Army of Northern Virginia and end this war.

A. Lincoln”

Number of times slaves or slavery are mentioned: 3

Number of references to a “clenched” fist or fists: 4

Number of times a character says “damn it”: 14

Memorable moments:

Time distorted. Some felt as if every step taken now seemed to transcend into an eternity. Some could look only at the guns; others could not look. A few gazed heavenward beseechingly; some noticed the most trivial of things, a frightened dove kicking up out of the tall grass, a grasshopper poised on a stalk of grass, about to jump, the sidelong glance of a beloved comrade who in another second would be dead, the back of an officer, hat poised on sword blade, who had turned, looking back to shout something to his men that could not be heard.

“Fire!”

||amazon.com&&

4||Title: “Grant Comes East”

Year published: 2004

Synopsis: “Former congressman Gingrich and historical fiction writer Forstchen once again collaborate to produce an exciting alternative history of the Civil War (after 2003’s bestselling Gettysburg). This second volume finds Lee and his victorious army in Maryland, poised to assault Washington, D.C.. The Confederates hope to capture the capital and President Lincoln, bring a sympathetic Maryland into the Confederacy, gain European recognition and force the Union into peace negotiations… This is one of the best novels of the Civil War to appear in recent years.”

Publishers Weekly

Last sentence: “It was his army and it would march, he realized, until either he was dead, along with all those passing before him, or the final victory was won.”

Number of times slaves or slavery are mentioned: 37

Number of references to fists slammed on desks and tables: 3

Number of times a character says “damn it”: 13

Memorable moments:

“Sir,” Taylor said softly. “Remember, the president is just outside the city. If he hears you’ve willingly allowed slaves to escape, there could be problems.”

“Then, sir,” Lee snapped, “I suggest you go back out of this city, bring the president here, make sure he sees that hanging, and let him pass the order as to what to do. We are a Christian army that has fought with honor, and I still propose that we maintain that honor. I will not tolerate what we just saw back there.”

“What did you think of dinner, General Lee?” Judah Benjamin asked.
“Delicious. I’m not paying a false compliment when I declare it is the best meal I’ve enjoyed since the start of this campaign.”
Judah laughed softly.
“So we have converted you to kosher cuisine?”
“Sir?”
“Everything tonight was kosher.”
“I am relieved not to have to eat salt pork for once, sir, if that is what you mean.”

||amazon.com&&

5||Title: “Never Call Retreat”

Year published: 2005

Synopsis: “The former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and his historian coauthor conclude their best-selling trilogy offering an alternate history of the Civil War. As was true of its predecessors, this is a swiftly paced and authentically grounded novel; this installment covers the end of the terrible North-South strife… Now, the authors move up Lee’s actual April 1865 surrender to August 1863 and, in the process, create quite realistic and creative actions and movements for each side leading up to the war’s blessed end…”

Booklist

Last sentence: “‘Four score and seven years ago…'”

Number of times slaves or slavery are mentioned: 10

Number of references to “morning mist”: 5

Number of times a character says “damn it”: 16

Memorable moments:

Suddenly John Miller stood up.

“Damn rebels!” he roared, shaking his fist. “Come on, you sons of bitches.”

With that a loud shout erupted from the regiment, some of the men began to stand up, officers shouting for them to remain kneeling.

||amazon.com&&

6||Title: “Pearl Harbor”

Year published: 2007

Synopsis: “The attack on Pearl Harbor occupies the final quarter of the book, and the extensive leadup begins in 1930s Japan and provides readers not well versed in Japanese history a decent thumbnail sketch of Japanese culture and the events that preceded the attack. The authors’ research shines in accurate accounts of diplomatic maneuvering as well as the nuts-and-bolts of military action, beginning with the Japanese invasion of China. Fans of the authors will expect their trademark “alternative” ending. In this case, the Japanese attack far more vigorously and devastate a larger chunk of the U.S. Pacific fleet than they actually did.”

Publishers Weekly

Last sentence: “‘By the time we are done with them,’ he snarled, ‘Japanese will only be spoken in hell. Now let’s go find their carriers.'”

Number of references to “destiny”: 25

Number of references to “bastards”: 22

Memorable moments:

The flash was startling. In an instant a column of water soared upward from the port side of the Oklahoma, impossibly high it seemed, higher than the tall pagodas of the gunnery control towers.

My God, not my ship! Not her. He remembered in that instant the flight with Fuchida, simulating what was now happening and looked upward, wondering. Are you up there? Are you up there, you bastard!

“Ah, but there’s the rub. Did you Yanks stop at the Mississippi? What about all that land you took from Mexico and then Spain back in ’98. You called it Manifest Destiny and maybe it was. Well, these folks think they have a Manifest Destiny as well.”

||amazon.com&&

7||Title: “Days of Infamy”

Year Published: 2008

Synopsis: “America is still reeling after epic events in Hawaii. The legendary admiral Bill Halsey is pitted against the notorious gambler Admiral Yamamoto–who has launched a fateful “third-wave attack” on the island of Oahu–in a battle of wits, nerve, and skill. Meanwhile, the hunt for the Japanese fleet is on…”
Macmillan

Last sentence: “But the fight had just started, and together with his friend on the other side of the Atlantic, as long as their will was not shaken, surely they would win through to inevitable victory.”

Number of times a character says “damn it”: 23

Number of references to the New Deal: 0

Memorable moments:

The President turned back to Missy LeHand, his secretary, pointing out where he had just crossed out a line for the address he was preparing for the nation, now scheduled for noon tomorrow before a joint session of Congress.

“Here, put this in the first sentence,” and he pointed to his margin notes, “‘a date which will live in infamy.'”

But this evening, Republican or Democrat didn’t matter. Their mission was to build an American front, regardless of parties. The old ideal that politics stopped at the border in times of crisis had to hold true, otherwise they would not win. Marshall had already voiced a fear of that to him, in the months before their entry into this conflict, the adage that “no Democracy can withstand a seven years’ war.” Politics as usual would finally take hold, sapping public support.

||amazon.com&&

8||Title: “To Try Men’s Souls”

Year published: 2009

Synopsis: “Sharing narration duties are Thomas Paine, George Washington and Jonathan van Dorn, a young private in Washington’s army. From Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River to a daring night raid on the better-armed Hessians, the authors do a decent job of depicting the dire plight of the Continental Army, though the big chunks of backstory wedged into the narrative add little texture while slowing the pace dramatically.”
Publishers Weekly

Last sentence: “With head bowed General George Washington, commander of the armies of these United States of America, began to pray. ”

Number of references to Hessians: 97

Number of times “Washington said nothing”: 4

Memorable moments:

Common Sense had been in everyone’s hands for nearly a year now. It had been easy enough to write last winter, safe and warm in Philadelphia, the argument for this war no longer being about Englishmen defending the rights of Englishmen; this was now a war about a new nation, a new concept, an ideal called America. We are Americans now and will die for the right to live free.

[From the introduction:] We decided that given the current threats to American civilization from both without and within, the time was ripe for a novel that told the story of that miracle to help bring Americans back into contact with their Founding Fathers and with the faith and courage that made that founding possible.

||amazon.com&&

9||Title: “Valley Forge”

Year published: 2010

Synopsis: “The bulk of the narrative is filtered through the sensitive eyes of young Pvt. Peter Wellsley, a member of Washington’s elite headquarters guard detail, while Washington’s chief lieutenants, including French aristocrat Lafayette, Prussian drillmaster Baron von Steuben, and tempestuous commissary commander “Mad Anthony” Wayne are vividly sketched. Meanwhile, the political intrigues of Gen. Horatio Gates (the dubious hero of Saratoga) to unseat Washington as he struggles to survive at Valley Forge play out in Congress. Finally, in June 1778, Washington attacks the British pulling back from Philadelphia to New York City and scores a redemptive victory with an able assist from American soldiers’ wives, like Molly Pitcher, who carry water and ammo to sustain the battle line.”
Publishers Weekly

Last sentence: “‘America shall never forget you, sir. Never.'”

Number of references to “freedom”: 33

Number of references to “Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior”: 0

Memorable moments:

“So you are General Washington?”

He removed his hat and bowed slightly.

“Yes, madam, I am he, and I thank you for the use of your home.”

“You should be ashamed of yourself, sir,” she snapped. “You send that poor boy here to do your bidding in nothing but rags, covered in lice, and I will not even shame the lad by telling you what his bowels were like.”

||amazon.com&&

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