The Killer Angels Book Review
Katie Cline
The Killer Angels Book Review
June 21, 2012 The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara: The Random House Publishing Group, New York, 1974.
The Killer Angels is a stunning recollection of the telltale battle of the Civil War: the Battle of Gettysburg. Set from June 29 to July 3, 1863 and told from the vantage points of several soldiers and commanding officers from both sides, including Lee, Longstreet, and Chamberlain, Michael Shaara effectively paints a picture of the war that divided America, from the tactical planning to the emotional hardships The book opened with a sodden Confederate spy as he blazed through the Union lines in the dead of night on June 29, 1863 toward the headquarters of Confederate general Robert E. Lee with news of the Army of the Potomac as they converged on the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. The next few days followed the various Union and Confederate regiments as they regrouped from the previous Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and moved toward Gettysburg where, ultimately, the deciding battle of the Civil War would take place. When the fighting began, Shaara illustrated the deeper aspects of war and soldier life by illuminating the readers on the personal lives of the otherwise hardhearted men. When light is shed on James Longstreet and Lewis Armistead’s arduous pasts, I began to see them as actual people rather than bloodthirsty soldiers. Longstreet had been thrown into battle after having just lost three of his children to fever, and the Confederate Armistead was faced with losing his best friend, Union general Winfield Scott Hancock, after already having lost his wife. Shaara took his readers by the hand and guided us through General Chamberlain’s struggle of duty as a soldier versus duty to family as he strived to serve the Union as well as protect his younger brother, Tom, without showing favoritism. The most impactful part of The Killer Angels, to me, was that the characters were developed as real people
The Killer Angels Book Review
June 21, 2012 The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara: The Random House Publishing Group, New York, 1974.
The Killer Angels is a stunning recollection of the telltale battle of the Civil War: the Battle of Gettysburg. Set from June 29 to July 3, 1863 and told from the vantage points of several soldiers and commanding officers from both sides, including Lee, Longstreet, and Chamberlain, Michael Shaara effectively paints a picture of the war that divided America, from the tactical planning to the emotional hardships The book opened with a sodden Confederate spy as he blazed through the Union lines in the dead of night on June 29, 1863 toward the headquarters of Confederate general Robert E. Lee with news of the Army of the Potomac as they converged on the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. The next few days followed the various Union and Confederate regiments as they regrouped from the previous Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and moved toward Gettysburg where, ultimately, the deciding battle of the Civil War would take place. When the fighting began, Shaara illustrated the deeper aspects of war and soldier life by illuminating the readers on the personal lives of the otherwise hardhearted men. When light is shed on James Longstreet and Lewis Armistead’s arduous pasts, I began to see them as actual people rather than bloodthirsty soldiers. Longstreet had been thrown into battle after having just lost three of his children to fever, and the Confederate Armistead was faced with losing his best friend, Union general Winfield Scott Hancock, after already having lost his wife. Shaara took his readers by the hand and guided us through General Chamberlain’s struggle of duty as a soldier versus duty to family as he strived to serve the Union as well as protect his younger brother, Tom, without showing favoritism. The most impactful part of The Killer Angels, to me, was that the characters were developed as real people