A Glorious Fate

“The first biography of Shaw to appear in decades, it takes its place as the most nuanced . . . . riveting . . . . Levin offers up the real, flawed Shaw.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Engrossing and highly readable.”—Washington Independent Review of Books

“A potential addition for large collections on Civil War history and historiography.”—Library Journal

“A beautifully rendered portrait. Levin reveals Robert Gould Shaw’s human complexity while keeping in view the remarkable bravery and sacrifice through which Shaw and the soldiers he commanded entered the pantheon of American heroes during the country’s Civil War. A compelling story that should never be forgotten.”—Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize winner and editor of Jefferson on Race: A Reader

“Propulsive and revelatory, A Glorious Fate is a nuanced portrait of an ambitious Civil War officer who never sought the martyrdom he achieved after death. This beautifully written biography will be the definitive account of Robert Gould Shaw’s complicated life.”—Megan Kate Nelson, Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West

“A masterful work. This authoritative and richly detailed account brings to life the remarkable saga of the young colonel who led the fabled 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Written with grace and clarity, Kevin Levin’s portrait of Shaw is a triumph of the art of biography.”—Douglas R. Egerton, author of A Man on Fire: The Worlds of Thomas Wentworth Higginson

“A deeply considered, thoughtfully argued biography that should delight any reader who wants to understand a subject in its full complexity. Levin repeatedly punctures myths to present Robert Gould Shaw as an exemplar for how soldiers' and citizens' understanding of the Union cause changed over the course of the Civil War.”—Matthew E. Mason, author of Apostle of Union: A Political Biography of Edward Everett