Company of Cowards

by Jack Schaefer

This classic novel of courage and redemption introduces Jared Heath. Heath, a captain in the Union army, is stripped of rank and court-martialed for cowardice after refusing to march his men into a suicide mission. Yet he has a chance to regain his honor when he is charged with leading Company Q, a unit of misfit officers also disgraced and charged with cowardice. If Heath can make them an effective fighting force, there is a possibility that all of them will be redeemed and pardoned. Will this unit of outcasts prevail and succeed when given the opportunity to show their courage, or will they find defeat deep in Comanche country?

Genres: Westerns, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Civil War, Historical

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1957

About the author

Schaefer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of an attorney. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1929 with a major in English. He attended graduate school at Columbia University from 1929-30, but left without completing his Master of Arts degree. He then went to work for the United Press. In his long career as a journalist, he would hold editorial positions at many eastern publications.

Schaefer's first success as a novelist came in 1949 with his memorable novel Shane, set in Wyoming. Few realized that Schaefer himself had never been anywhere near the west. Nevertheless, he continued writing successful westerns, selling his home in Connecticut and moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1955.

In 1975 Schaefer received the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement award.

He died of heart failure in Santa Fe in 1991. Schaefer was married twice, his second wife moving to Santa Fe with him.

Schaefer's novel Monte Walsh was made into a movie in 1970, with Lee Marvin in the title role, and again in 2003 as a TV movie starring Tom Selleck. Shane was also made into a movie and a series.

from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Sch...

Reviews

[Louis Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is one of Schaefer's three greatest: 'Shane' is about as good as fiction can get, but 'Monte Walsh' is deeper and more complex (see my review of the TV version with Tom Selleck [http://www.aristos.org/aris-03/monte.htm] and skip the movie starring Lee Marvin as Monte and Jack Palance as Chet]. 'Company of Cowards' is also deeper and more complex than 'Shane'). It may be the greatest novel set during the Civil War.

See "A Neglected Writer: Jack Schaefer,"my brief essay on the novel in ALSC Newsletter (now the journal, Literary Matters, published by the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics [http://www.literarymatters.org/wp-con...]. (Scroll down a little past half way and look for the title.) [This paragraph added June 14, 2018.]

Louis Torres, Editor, Jack Schaefer Page [http://www.aristos.org/schaefer/js-pa...].

The Schaefer page, last revised 15 years ago, was never posted in a narrow format and many 0f the links may be broken---but it remains the most comprehensive source of information on Schaefer online or off and includes a generous excerpt from my article "Jack Schaefer, Teller of Tales" (1996). If and when a complete revision is posted, you will read it here. Or write to me (Subject: Jack Schaefer) and I'll put you on a list reserved just for such an announcement or information about Schaefer. - L.T.

torres[at]aristos[dot]org

[Damon Isherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typically good fare from Schaefer. A story of redemption that is a bit civil war, a bit western, and a lot character study. The thing that sets Schaefer apart from contemporary writers, who seem to be ashamed of anything pure or heroic, is that it is Schaefer's guiding star; and the brighter it burns, the more he likes it. Thats what makes him special, and his books so uplifting.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. I’m going to need to give this another read at some point, as it wasn’t until about halfway in that I really grasped what Schaefer is going for here. Once that clicked, it worked wonderfully. Beautiful prose and such well-realized characters. God bless Jack Schaefer.

[Colin Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intelligent and well-written literary western novel. A totally believable premise and a cast of equally credible characters. An interesting examination of the way in which even the most professional of soldiers can succumb to the pressures of warfare and the stress of command. A clever transposition from the bloody civil war action in the East to the harshness of the terrain in the West and a different set of protagonists. A sympathetic description of military life in both theatres of war and the approach by the Union army to the difficulties experienced in mounting two very different campaigns. The company of the title refers to Company Q, a disparate group of men all whom have been the subject of drumhead courts martial for alleged cowardice in the field and who are given the opportunity to work both together and separately in an effort to redeem their reputations. A thought-provoking read with an absorbing narrative throughout.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating blend of history and fiction. Very well done, and very good character studies.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Schaefer was a prolific author best known for his debut book, Shane, and the movie made of it. This one came a little later and is unfortunately far more interesting in premise than execution. Apparently inspired by an apocryphal historical footnote from the Civil War, it follows the path of a tiny unit of eight Union officers. They've been court-martialed for cowardice, but have been given the opportunity to redeem themselves by serving as privates in this ad-hoc unit, under the leadership of Jared Heath.

I guess I was hoping for some kind of Civil War era version of The Dirty Dozen, as the unit is sent to the western territories. However, the bulk of the book is about the formation of the group and the tedious logistics of their journey to New Mexico and billeting there at an obscure fort. It's not until almost the very end that there's finally an actual bit of action, where the small unit has to storm a hill in order to protect a supply wagon train from Comanches. It's all pretty anticlimactic, and more to the point, it's never clear at all why the seven very different men would have rallied around Heath as a unit, much less been bonded enough to charge into overwhelming odds together. Overall, a rather tedious disappointment.

[Randal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skip this one if you're looking for an interesting western. The entire book reads like a summary of some other book that might have been interesting. Or it is like reading the actual company log book of a Civil War company, and yet so much worse—just as boring, just as dry, but also fictional, so you're not even learning while you read.

The only truly interesting portion is Schaefer's Author's Note at the end in which he describes his search to verify the historical existence of Company Q, a company of cowards given an off-handed mention in Bruce Catton's classic A Stillness at Appomattox. Spoiler: Company Q probably didn't exist.

It is not a good sign for a novel if the Author's Note is the best part.

[Joe Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well crafted story of valor during times of high stress. The author is so good blending fact and fiction that this reader had to pause at times to remember this is a novel and not a true narrative. As he explained in the ending Author’s Note, Schaefer imbedded his characters with behaviors and personalities in circumstances he derived from actual Civil War court martial cases.

Schaefer’s descriptive writing is vivid. Without gore his depictions of the Wilderness Campaign and the Battle of Adobe Walls have a cinematic feel immersing the reader in the emotions involved in the conflicts.

How Schaefer got his idea of a military unit composed of cowards is explained in the Author’s Notes. It’s an interesting account of what t he factual record reveals. Or doesn’t.

[Donald Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding book. The more I read/listen to Jack Schaefer, the more I like him. This book is entirely fictional except as noted in an historical explanation at the end. It shows great insight into human character and leadership.

The concept of the book is the gathering together of eight men who were each court-martialed for cowardice in the Civil War. They are given a second chance by their assignment together. They each have problems, but together they begin to form a cohesive unit. They come to a crisis at the end of the book and you will see how each pulls through.

I highly recommend this book.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty fun beginning and end, but most of the book was pretty meh.

[Jennifer Bohnhoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is a little slow going at first, but it's downright exciting to see anything at all written about the Battle of Adobe Walls.

[Jeff Bradbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one has its high and low points. The writing style did not seem super consistent. Glad I read it in the end.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Company of Cowards isn't the book Jack Schaefer wanted to write. The novel, loosely based on a throwaway paragraph in Catton's A Stillness at Appomattox about a possibly apocryphal outfit of officers busted down for cowardice, stands as an almost exact inversion of Shane. In that classic work, the eponymous hero knows himself, and the novel is spent exploring his nature. Here the hero faces the question of his own coward and character, and spends the narrative exploring himself. Which would be awesome, except Schaefer apparently really wanted to write an extremely dull blow-by-blow of the Civil War and its iterations in the West, something slightly less interesting than salt pork and hard tack dinners. Intriguing characters suffer from the brevity of their appearances. He introduces his host, only to have him virtually disappear until the denouement. Some things shine in the narrative, but you've got to slog through forty pages of fighting in Old Virginny before you even glimpse them.

[Ted Hinkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having recently re-read Jack Schaefer's classic, SHANE, I discovered another hidden gem in COMPANY OF COWARD. Schaefer has a knack for pulling the best from his characters leaving the reader with a sense of nostalgia for our country's heritage. This particular volume was a yellow paged hardbound, first printing 1957 issue from The Riverside Press Cambridge of Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston MA., borrowed from Evergreen Library. Holding, smelling this simple book, dwelling on the history, and experiencing the lives of these heroic, but common characters, touched my heart. There are more Jack Schaefer gems waiting to be appreciated.