chaotic and include defecting to the Union, impersonation, and robbing a church in order to be able to pay for a trip to a brothel. Emily Thompson, a judge's daughter, is a displaced southern aristocrat from Milledgeville, Georgia, which was then the state capital. She becomes the surgical assistant and lover to the cold, passionless Colonel Sartorius. The novel concludes when Lincoln is assassinated on 14 April 1865, shortly after the war ends, exposing the cautious optimism of the freed slaves and beleaguered soldiers. The final scene describes the faint smell of gunpowder dissipating through a forest with the lonely image of the boot and shredded uniform of a fallen soldier lying in the dirt. While Doctorow's characters express guarded hope now that the conflict is over, the physical and psychological toll of the war has left its scars on the people and the land, and no one is quite sure what to do next. Critical reception The March won the 2006 PEN/Faulkner fiction award, which Doctorow had previously won in 1990 for his novel Billy Bathgate; it also won the 2005 National Book Critics Award and was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize and the 2005 National Book Award. It won the 2006 Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction. Adaptations In early 2012, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company premiered an adaptation of The March for stage. See also Sherman's March to the Sea References External links Review in Slate Review in The Washington Post Review in the Chicago Tribune Review in The New Yorker Review in the Chicago Sun-Times Review in The New York Times Review in The New York Times Book Review Fiction set in 1864 Fiction set in 1865 2005 American novels Novels set during the American Civil War Novels by E. L. Doctorow Random House books PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction-winning works American novels adapted into plays National Book Critics Circle Award-winning works