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A review by wwatts1734
The Hornet's Nest by Jimmy Carter
3.0
"The Hornet's Nest" is the first novel by President Jimmy Carter, and that fact alone makes this book a compelling read. It is a historical novel set in Georgia during the years leading up to and during the American Revolution. If this were a history rather than a historical novel, I would probably give this book a rating of four or even five, unfortunately this book lacks many of the elements that are indispensable to a great novel. A historical novel should be a great story placed in a historical setting. But this novel, like many novels written by historians, is essentially a history with a few fictional characters and events thrown in.
The first third of the book deals with a Quaker family who move to Georgia in the 1760s, and have to deal with the slavery, the relations with Native Americans and the hostility of the locals to the British colonial rulers that they found there. However, once the war begins, the novel drops the pretense of being a novel and simply sticks to relating the historical events that took place in the war. The Quaker family is lost from this point until almost the end of the narrative. Several other fictional characters are introduced, but there is no character development, the characters are simply used to narrate the events of the war. There really is no story here either. It's a shame because the writing is quite good, and I learned a lot about the events of the Revolutionary War in Georgia by reading this book. But it's not a novel per se. The reader should be aware of that.
Overall I would recommend this book to people with an interest in the colonial history of the American South, as well as fans of Jimmy Carter.
The first third of the book deals with a Quaker family who move to Georgia in the 1760s, and have to deal with the slavery, the relations with Native Americans and the hostility of the locals to the British colonial rulers that they found there. However, once the war begins, the novel drops the pretense of being a novel and simply sticks to relating the historical events that took place in the war. The Quaker family is lost from this point until almost the end of the narrative. Several other fictional characters are introduced, but there is no character development, the characters are simply used to narrate the events of the war. There really is no story here either. It's a shame because the writing is quite good, and I learned a lot about the events of the Revolutionary War in Georgia by reading this book. But it's not a novel per se. The reader should be aware of that.
Overall I would recommend this book to people with an interest in the colonial history of the American South, as well as fans of Jimmy Carter.