The Hornet's Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War

Written by Jimmy Carter

Narrated by Edward Herrmann

The first work of fiction by a President of the United States—a sweeping novel of the American South and the War of Independence.

In his ambitious and deeply rewarding novel, Jimmy Carter brings to life the Revolutionary War as it was fought in the Deep South; it is a saga that will change the way we think about the conflict. He reminds us that much of the fight for independence took place in that region and that it was a struggle of both great and small battles and of terrible brutality, with neighbor turned against neighbor, the Indians’ support sought by both sides, and no quarter asked or given. The Hornet’s Nest follows a cast of characters and their loved ones on both sides of this violent conflict—including some who are based on the author’s ancestors.

At the heart of the story is Ethan Pratt, who in 1766 moves with his wife, Epsey, from Philadelphia to North Carolina and then to Georgia in 1771, in the company of Quakers. On their homesteads in Georgia, Ethan and his wife form a friendship with neighbors Kindred Morris and his wife, Mavis. Through Kindred and his young Indian friend Newota, Ethan learns about the frontier and the Native American tribes who are being continually pressed farther inland by settlers. As the eight-year war develops, Ethan and Kindred find themselves in life-and-death combat with opposing forces.

With its moving love story, vivid action, and the suspense of a war fought with increasing ferocity and stealth, The Hornet’s Nest is historical fiction at its best, in the tradition of such major classics as The Last of the Mohicans.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 11, 2003
• ISBN: 9780743568029

Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. In 1982, he and his wife founded The Carter Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people around the world. Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He is the author of thirty books, including A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety; A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power; An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood; and Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis.

Reviews for The Hornet's Nest

[athenable · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book starts out pretty well but then descends into a muddle of too many characters and dry military facts.

[fulner · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Carter manages a mass of characters who struggle to survive the revolutionary war. From wives hoping to be reunited with husbands, to Quakes and other pacifists trying to keep peace at all cost, to those who "just want to be left alone" and Torries loyal to the crown and tarred and feather for their belief (and latter return the favor 100 times over). And of course Indians playing the game best they can in hopes of one day returning to the ways of the ancestors. This audio book was "interesting." I really enjoyed Jimmy Carter's non-fiction work, so this lead me to try out his one fiction writing. This piece of historical fiction is attempted to be written like his non-fiction pieces, sort of in a memories mode. This is odd for fiction, as it is trying to get decades worth of fictional information into a story only several hours long. Also unlike most fiction works, there is not real central character, the story jumps back and forth, and its likely readable as such in print form, but much more hard to follow in audio only. Also this story, like many fiction writings of the 21st century, has far too many unnecessary sexual sense written in it. Add to that image, the idea that this is written not only by an old white man, but one who used to be the POTUS. ITs just weird. But the story was interesting and worth following, and like all good historical fiction made me want to learn more about the facts behind it, to determine how much was history and how much was fiction. Often I felt more like I was hearing a civil war story than a revolutionary store, with a frequent thought that for an Georgian in his 70s the Civil War is still not far enough that we can talk about it candidly, but then again I'm reminded that if Washington would have lost, our Revolutionary war may well have been referred to as the British Civil War.

[sharonk21 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not bad for a first-time historical novelist. Also shows how you can use your own family's genealogy as the basis for a historical novel. I read this as a companion piece to E. L. Doctorow's "The March." "The March" covers the civil war in the same three states as Carter's historical novel about the revolutionary war. My own many-great grandfather fought in the revolutionary war in North Carolina and was killed by Loyalists in a reprisal raid of his home much like the raids described by Carter. The revolutionary war in the South was much different than that in the North. Most of the British Army in the South was recruited from local Loyalists and it led to a situation of neighbor against neighbor not at all unlike what is going on in Iraq today.

[anyanwubutler · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

5 cds that the box says is 5.5 hours long-- but it felt like years. As a novelist, Jimmy Carter is a great humanitarian. This is a pastiche of northern Georgia history during and before the Revolutionary War. I imagine if I googled the main characters their biographies would be on Wikipedia, in not very different form than they are in this ?book.? But I googled his main character and they aren?t historical characters, they just seem that way. (Not true, with a bit of further digging. The protagonist Ethan Pratt is based on Carter family stories, and doesn?t have a Wikipedia entry, but the antagonists Thomas Burnfoot Brown (Loyalist) and Ethan Clarke (Rebel) are historical, or at least they have Wikipedia entries.)

[kerns222 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

he cannot write!

[witchyrichy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Historically accurate account of a time period and geographical area that I didn't know much about. The fiction is almost an after thought, kind of like examples to illustrate a very interesting history lecture.

[bkswrites_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Picked up the Simon & Schuster audio book on clearance (read by Edward herrmann), and didn't manage to finish it. It sort of gets bogged down in the military details (including the torture/execution details), which I guess shouldn't surprise me, being by a military/political male. But it did really disappoint me in failure to understand its women characters or even round them out. They didn't even have 'steel magnolia' depth. I'm glad this man I admire tried, but I wish he could have tried a little harder.