In the first novel of a spellbinding new trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Jeff Shaara returns to the Civil War terrain he knows best. A Blaze of Glory takes us to the action-packed Western Theater for a vivid re-creation of one of the war’s bloodiest and most iconic engagements—the Battle of Shiloh.

It’s the spring of 1862. The Confederate Army in the West teeters on the brink of collapse, forcing General Albert Sidney Johnston to abandon the critical city of Nashville and rally his troops to defend the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Hot on Johnston’s trail are two of the Union’s best generals, Ulysses Grant and Don Carlos Buell, who are intent on taking the railroad and winning the war in the West. There’s just one problem: Johnston knows of the Union plans and is poised to launch a surprise attack outside a humble church named Shiloh.

By the end of the second day of fighting, as Grant’s bedraggled forces regroup for what looks like a last stand, two major events—one of them totally unexpected—would turn the tide of the battle and perhaps the war itself.

Drawing on meticulous research, Shaara takes us inside the maelstrom of Shiloh as no novelist has before.