The Calm and the Strife

by David J. Sloat, John W. Sloat

It is 1856 in a quiet town tucked away in the hills of central Pennsylvania. The people of Gettysburg go about their lives under the looming shadow of secession. This important new historical novel traces the ordinary lives of three of Gettysburg’s former citizens − “Jennie” Wade, Wesley Culp, and Johnston Skelly − from their childhoods together through the climactic battle that changed the town forever.
The Calm and the Strife dramatizes the divisions created by the storm of violence that exploded during an extraordinary period in American history. This meticulously researched story provides a personal view of the American Civil War, seen though the eyes of its real inhabitants, and presents a rarely seen perspective of the town of Gettysburg before and during the epic three-day battle in July 1863.

About the Author:
David J. Sloat, a New York University graduate, is a former documentary filmmaker and marketing executive. He is currently an Information Technology director for an environmental services company. He resides with his wife and three children in Western Pennsylvania. This is his first novel.
John W. Sloat, a graduate of Princeton and Pittsburgh Seminaries, was a Presbyterian minister for 40 years, serving churches in Pennsylvania and Ohio. He and his wife have three children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He is a musician and leads spirituality groups. This is his seventh book.

Genres: Historical Fiction

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 26, 2012

About the author

David J. Sloat, a New York University graduate, is a former documentary filmmaker and marketing executive. He is currently an Information Technology director for an environmental services company. He resides with his wife and three children in Western Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Dylan S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read, a fascinating account of the real challenges of three characters caught in the cross-fire of American history. Would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys Civil War history or just enjoys a good read!

[Cheryl Gatling]

When we think of battles (or at least when I think of battles), we think of the movements of armies, the decisions of generals, the maps in the textbooks with arrows and diagrams. Sometimes we forget that those battles take place in towns where people are trying to live-- cooking, and birthing babies, and getting water from the well. The Calm and the Strife is a book about the battle of Gettysburg that is not about the big picture, but about the lives of individuals who just happened to be there. It is mostly the love triangle between Ginnie Wade, and her two suitors, Wesley Culp, who ends up fighting for the south, and Jack Skelly, who fights for the north. How does a Pennsylvania boy end up on the "wrong" side of the battle lines? Wes was made fun of as a kid because he was short and he stuttered. He vows, "I'll show them." He'll make his fortune in Virginia, come back and marry Ginnie, and carry her off to a plantation where they can sit on the porch and sip lemonade in ease. He doesn't find a life of ease in Virginia. He does the same job he did back home (building carriages), but he does find friends. He falls in with a militia group called the Hamtramck Guards. They wear uniforms and go through drills just for fun, mostly for the fun of going to parties and impressing girls. When the war breaks out, naturally, the guards join up, and Wes goes along with them. He fights not for any political agenda (he owns no slaves, and no one he knows owns slaves), but just because the place
where he found acceptance has become his home. I thought this entirely plausible. The rush to war took on a life of its own, with nasty names and spitting and bitterness suddenly directed at people who used to visit each other as neighbors. As different characters keep saying, "This war has changed everything." Ginnie and Wes are separated by a gap that seems unbridgeable, and, Jack, well, Jack is there. Many things about Civil War life are made vivid through this book: the laborious process of loading the rifle, including the soldier's ripping open the paper packet of gunpowder with his mouth, and tasting the powder, the impossibility of seeing what was happening through the clouds of smoke in the air, dipping the hardtack biscuits in coffee, or whatever liquid was available to be able to chew them at all, and the horrors of the field hospital. If there had been no war, Jack and Ginnie probably would have married, and had babies, but... the war changed everything for them. It can hardly be a spoiler to tell what happened to these people, since they are real people, historical characters. It
is a matter of record what happened. Everyone dies. Jack, and Wes, and Ginnie all die at the battle of Gettysburg. But the storytelling makes it real to us, and not just names on a marker.

[Coleen Guhl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truth and Fiction
I loved this book because it weaves a little history with fiction. Granted some of the details are not TRUE and I know this because Jennie is my husband's great, great, great aunt. I did love how the authors tried to tell us about the days and months before the battle and what the women had to endure during the battle.

[Scott L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is always dangerous to write a historical fiction with characters who were real people; especially if you give them difficulties that may or may not be true. David Sloat treads that very slippery slope with this book, and I do not envy him his position. He does explain that this is his interpretation of the events, but I can see where this would be controversial. Having said that: this is a really well written book. Were this totally fictional with fictional characters, I would consider it to be excellent reading. The battle is treated very fairly, and the difficulties of being a civilian caught in the middle of a major battle are wonderfully outlined and treated in this book. It is a very fast and enjoyable read. I would recommend it to most people who are interested in the civilian stories of the American War Between the State. The only thing that keeps this from being a five star book, in my opinion, is the unsympathetic (and possibly untrue) portrayal of certain characters that make them seem one-dimensional.