The Judas Field
by Howard Bahr (Henry Holt and Company, $25)

Set 20 years after the end of the Civil War, The Judas Field uses vivid flashbacks to lay the foundation for the peacetime events that unfurl. At the center of it all stands Cass Wakefield, a soldier in the 21st Mississippi, one of the few from his regiment to survive the horrific Battle of Franklin. Through him, we learn the extent of the gaping scars left by that conflict. What makes Howard Bahr's work so universal in his third and latest novel is his ability to translate the lasting impact of such events on individual lives. He writes, then, not about history, but chiefly about the human condition. --Dianne Young