The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War by Michael Shaara
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Book Reviews of The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War
Book Review: A fine basic view.........
Summary: 5 Stars
The great Douglas Southall Freeman stated in 1936 that Gettysburg was the most studied battle in the history of the world. Despite all that has happened in the past 70 years, that is probably still true. I first encountered this fine book a number of years ago, when I was Medical Officer for The Basic School at Quantico. It was, and probably still is, required reading for the Second Lieutenants. Whole volumes of "nonfiction" have been written about each day of Gettysburg, but this novel contains more truth than most of them.
This volume looks at Gettysburg from both Union and Confederate viewpoints. The courage and determination of both sides is well shown. The high placed mistakes on the Condederate side are well known; those on the Union side are less evident, but still real. The South should have won; The South should have been completely destroyed. Both statements are true, but neither event happened, and the war went on. The issue of who was "right", and who was "wrong" will never be settled. I suppose it's obvious that I vote with Longstreet and Hood. And yet, I still maintain that Robert E. Lee was the greatest soldier who ever lived.
We can play "what if" unto eternity...if Jackson isn't shot at Chancellorsville, he is on the left the first day...but, if Dick Ewell does his job, it doesn't matter. And, if JEB Stuart isn't joyriding, maybe the whole battle never happens. Maybe Lee ordered the wrong attacks, but if they're made earlier...And, we forget that Pickett's Charge almost worked....Here's one my fellow Confederates won't like [I have support for it in a footnote in vol. 2 of "Lee's Lieutenants"]....at the time of Chancellorsville, President Davis was thinking of giving Jackson his "fourth star", and Braxton Bragg's job....Jackson was a great fighting General, but mainly because Lee was his boss...as an Army Commander...Jackson was just as difficult and unpleasant as Bragg, without Bragg's strategic and logistical ability...Jackson has gone down as a martyr; if he had lived, he may well have destroyed The Army of Tennessee, and gone down as "Tom Fool", which was his nickname at VMI.
This is an "essential" book. I have said quite the opposite of other very fine Civil War books, that are written for the professional. Only one significant error of fact: from Pickett's words, we are left with the impression that General James Kemper was killed in The Charge; Kemper recovered, later served as Governor of Virginia, and lived out his days. If you have the slightest interest in the Civil War, don't fail to read this.
Book Review: An unparalleled example of Civil War fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
When considering Civil War fiction `The Killer Angels' by Michael Shaara is unparalleled. It is perhaps the finest example of the genre that I have read and acts as marker by which to measure all other Civil War fiction. The novel is skilfully crafted, it is simple in its storytelling yet at the same time intricate in its detail. Involving some 170,000 soldiers of the US Army of the Potomac under Major General George Meade and the CS Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee, `The Killer Angels' depicts the battle for Gettysbury and covers the days of June 29th to July 3rd 1863. After spectacular victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville the Confederate Army had invaded the North not only to ease the burden of war on a ravaged Virginia but also to strike such a destructive and decisive blow to the Federal Army that the Lincoln Government would be forced to consider a peace treaty. The armies converged on Gettysburg a small town of some 2,400 inhabitants in Pennsylvania, leading to a battle with 51,000 casualties that changed the direction of not only the war but also American history itself.
This is not just an account of a battle, `The Killer Angels' presents the reader with the internal thoughts of those who played a role in the events of the battle. It gives us the feelings and emotions of Lee and Longstreet, Buford and Chamberlain and a whole list of others whose combined actions and thoughts create such a rich and enthralling novel. Some suggest that such fictionalised internal dialogue takes away from a true historical account. Albeit based on fact, this is a novel not an attempt at historical accounting and it must be treated as such. However, Michael Shaara writes with such conviction that the reader will view the words with nothing short of total belief.
The battle of Gettysburg was a failure for Lee, yet in the aftermath much of the blame was placed with Lieutenant General James Longstreet. Within the pages of `The Killer Angels' Longstreet is justifiably treated with such objectivity that the book provided the beginning of a period of rehabilitation for Longstreet culminating in the dedication of a statue to him on the battle field on July 3rd 1998.
If you are only going to read one civil War novel, make it this one. True, it is a piece of Civil War fiction but it is so well written and masterfully crafted that even those who feel that a novel about a three day battle has no interest for them, will on its conclusion cite `The Killer Angels' among their favourites.
Book Review: Superb novel of the Gettysburg battle
Summary: 5 Stars
The Killer Angels is a novel of an actual event, the battle of Gettysburg, which was the biggest overall clash of the Civil War, and a major turning point. In this book the views of several characters are shown, most particularly Longstreet of the Confederacy and Chamberlain of the Union. For those who are familiar with the Civil War, this book sheds some insight into the characters involved, as well as fodder for endless discussion as to how certain moves could have changed the whole battle. For those not familiar with the details of the war, it is a very informative introduction to it. It is less about tactics and weaponry and more about the people involved, what they were feeling and how they acted under great adversity.Longstreet is seen as a general who knows that things will turn out badly, and he was ahead of his time in many ways about the changing face of warfare. Frontal assaults like Pickett's Charge were the byproduct of another era, but such was the success of Robert E. Lee, and the deserved admiration that his soldiers felt for him that it was hopeless that it the results of Gettysburg could have turned out any other way. Lee is shown to be a compassionate, dignified, yet resolute man, who must get rid of "those people" in their heavily fortified positions no matter what the cost.
Chamberlain is the citizen/soldier who was a professor in civilian life, and finds his Maine regiment at the extreme end of the flank and is in some of the heaviest action. His fear, his doubts and his bravery under pressure makes him a very human figure. Others in the novel who are prominent are the Union cavalryman Buford, the British observer Fremantle who is still living in the world of Waterloo; Lew Armistead, who was leading his brigade into battle against the army of his dear friend Hancock, and Pickett who is a flashy roguish figure seemingly out of another era. There are many debates about the nature of the war and what it was about, and what it meant to all the principals involved. For some it was a righteous cause (Chamberlain), for others a defense of states' rights, for others their professional duty (Longstreet).
The movie Gettysburg is based on this novel, and focuses primarily on Buford's first day, Chamberlain on Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge. The book goes into more detail about other events in the battle, Devil's Den, Culp's Hill etc. Again, it is presented in a very accessible style, and the final picturesque yet terrible charge by the rebels is a thrilling climax.
Book Review: A Constitution Calamadity
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Shaara has a wonderful style of writing combining a tremendous amount of feeling, imagery, and context in each sentence. Shaara provides a sequence of maps, events, and timelines leading to Gettysburg final conflict at Cemetry Ridge. Northern industrial taxation on manufactured goods situated a constitutional division of sovereignty destroying a united union leading to a bloody war. Jeff Shaara book, "God and Generals" provides an amazing story of faith and exploitation of vulnerablity in the right flank of the union leading to a massive retreat by Hookers men and a 10,000 men charge by rebel Longstreet. Lee realized the opportunity could not be passed and it was not accidental that God had led them to such a valley. "Gods and Generals" would highlight the victory for General Jackson who was shot in the arm, had his arm amputated, and later died of pneumonia.
In "Killer Angels", Michael Shaara, the father author, continues the story. The battle to know God's will would be settle on the battle field by the killer angels who are the fighting soldiers. Union General Hancock would signal the first turning point by defeating the confederates at Devils Hill by leading a bannotte charge down the hill and causing the rebels to turn and run. The saddest tradegy foresaw the inevitable defeat of the confederate army as General Lee ignored all alternates to a direct assault. Lee believed a charge of 15,000 confederate men focused at a single point on cemetry ridge, Gettsburg could break the union formation and once split pour over into Washington. Longstreet knew that Lee had decided and there was no turning back, no time left, no alternatives to the right flank, nothing. Longstreet and four other Generals would walk the mile distance to the stone wall with Armistad reaching the wall to later die with the knowledge his friend Hancock might also die. Longstreet would realize it would not be God who sent the men up the hill. The carnage of men lying dieing in the field, bloated horse with terrible sink, exploded trees, deep trenches, and the irony of such beautiful country characterized the writings but in no way diminished the terrible tradegy of brother killing brother in a war that last over 10 years. The civil war is repulsive event in American history: so much carnage, destruction of property, damaged relationship, and suffering. I pray that war never returns to this country again like it did in the Civil war. Both side lost too much.
Book Review: Leonardo Lee's review
Summary: 5 Stars
If I would rate this book out of 5, I would definitely give it a 5 as the semi-fictional account (I enjoy a war book) was heartfelt and tragic, even if you knew what was going to happen. The Killer Angels is something that takes from fiction and non-fiction. All the people and their accounts are real, but it flows like a story and takes the perspectives of a few Generals. The generals' names are: Chamberlain, Lee, Buford, and Longstreet. The author was careful in their research, taking the diaries of the respective men he carved out a story portraying both sides of the war and used only what they knew. He added nothing except maybe the personalities of the commanders. He spends sometime in solidifying the ideologies behind the war. He makes no side the enemy, just to conflicting ideals union and of having the right to govern themselves. He makes this clear; the south was not fighting for their slaves but their freedom of property and choice. This is signified when Tom Chamberlain the brother of Joshua Chamberlain one of the commanders laughs as he said some of the prisoners say that they are fighting for their "rats", misunderstood by Tom as the accents are different. Confusion in the story is quite clear as you take on the aspects of the character that you are reading of only knowing what they know, feeling for instance Longstreet a surviving general whom is the South's last great general after the death of Jackson. Longstreet was forced to follow orders as part of an en echelon attack to flank the Union to break through and decimate the Union army. It was an inevitable failure as the men and their captains were getting nervous as one lieutenant put it with a hint of desperation "General will you look at the ground? We can't even mount artillery" (200). This was due to the longing to end the war, Lee who was the general saw Gettysburg as an opportunity, and everyone knew the war was going to end, but Gettysburg determined it all. One more interesting this was how it was generalized and not full of logistics. The Confederate troops barely heard about Vicksburg from where they were in Pennsylvania. It did not go into depth about logistics as the textbook did but it was informative about lives and how they went in the war. I would give it a 5 for it gave an accurate account most of the time, the personalities being fabrications as well as only adding the significant battles and not all of them made the account less accurate but gave it a good flow like a story should have.