The author is currently working on a novel about America's founding fathers. Taken as a whole, Shaaras' oeuvre plays like a veritable parade of multi-layered, complicated manliness. These flagrantly flawed heroes are, above all, men of conviction, often equally worthy of respect and reproach. To hear Shaara explain it, our rekindled desire for believable symbols of strength and character may signal a new chapter in the story that began with the simplistic, white-hatted heroes of our old westerns and war movies and histories. John Wayne vs. the Psychlos.
War is essentially barbaric.
No matter what army you're in, no matter what part of the world or what time in history, it's extremely important that you convince your troops that those people over there, the enemy, need to be killed. It's necessary to dehumanize the enemy in order to be willing to slaughter them. That, says Shaara, is one of the most basic tools of war. They were Commies during the Cold War. This because Longstreet had fought side by side with those same soldiers in the Mexican War.