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: The finest in historical literature
Summary: 5 Stars
It was this book that got me interested in the Civil War, and for that alone I am enormously indebted to Michael Shaara. Couple that with the fact that this book is so immensely entertaining, interesting, and memorable and you have the only book I've read that's won a Pulitzer and was actually a good book.
The story is seen from the viewpoints of four men in particular: Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain, commander of a Maine regiment, and General John Buford, commander of a cavalry division, represting the Union. For the south we have Robert E. Lee and his old warhorse, 1st corps commander James Peter Longstreet. From these four men with different ranks we see an inspirational, at times heart-rending portrait of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle on our nation's soil, and still one of the bloodiest in American history.
Of course what makes this book special is that it humanizes such historical figures that have been made into just summaries by textbooks: we see Lee's honor, his compassion, his faith in God. We see Longstreet's stubborness, his tell-it-how-it-is personality, his obession with the defense, and how much of a departure he is from the traditional southern general: "all Napoleon and a whole lot of chivalry." We see Buford, confronted with the momentous decision to hold his ground, sensing his own imminent death, and his weariness of stupidity. And in Chamberlain, we see pure, unadulterated courage of the rarest kind.
Too be sure, Shaara takes some liberty with a bit of the historical facts (he puts Chamberlain and his regiment at the center of Picket's charge, which did not happen) and his own opinions run rampant (his contempt of General Meade, for example. Both Longstreet and Lee deride Meade in the book, when in fact both generals had nothing but respect for their Federal counterpart.) But these really are trivial when placed in the epic scope of the book. Most of the story is very accurate, and when it puts this kind of personality and feeling into the battle, you really cannot ask for anything more. For anyone interested in the Civil War, or just good literature in general, put the Killer Angels on the top of your list. You will never, ever forget it.
Book Review: Brings Our Deadliest War to Life
Summary: 5 Stars
To citizens of these United States, the Civil War was the defining event in our nation. It was a war of battles with evocative names: Bull Run, Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg... Perhaps the war was about slavery, perhaps it was about the clash between an industrial democracy and a planting autocracy. But what was it really like?Even the best historians fail to make compelling their descriptions of battle. It all starts to sound like business prose. We know there were real issues on the ground, real death and fear and dreadful mistakes. We know, too, that some battles were decisive, and perhaps we are given numbers - numbers dead, and so on. But unless you know how read those numbers and descriptions of troop movements (unless you yourself have toiled in the mud and trenches, or had to make choices that meant death for somebody), it all comes to seem like a company's annual report does to most of us, like figures with no blood in them.
The Killer Angels tells us things about the battle of Gettysburg that a history book cannot. It puts us into the minds of a few key people in the Union and Confederate armies, and it puts us on the ground during those murderous three days. We learn to look from eye level, we get some feel for the constant presence of death. We see devout soldiers, and soldiers who are willing to die without any hope of a heaven. We learn what it was like at Gettysburg, and why failures of character mattered.
Michael Shaara's method was to go back to the original sources - the letters and memoirs and diaries of those who were there - to find a more personal truth about the war. This is a targeted book without the pretensions of a "great" novel. It is focused in intent and rather simple in structure. It shows those days of the battle (and the agonizing nights) through the eyes of a few of the key officers of the Confederacy and a couple of junior officers of the Union. This was an interesting decision but, I think, appropriate: to a great extent, the South lost the fight because of Lee's decisions, and the North held because of those junior officers. But read this book, and draw your own conclusions. You will never think of the Civil War as mere "history" again.
Book Review: The Killer Angels
Summary: 5 Stars
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
- Shakespeare, Hamlet
This wonderful war novel focuses on the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. As the novel opens, a large Confederate expeditionary force moves North through Pennsylvania, seeking to force a major confrontation with Union forces. Intelligence on enemy movements is hard to come by, as the Confederates have lost touch with their cavalry, but a spy brings them information that leads them to turn East to meet a Union army moving North from Washington.
The story focuses mainly on the Confederate generals but author Michael Shaara alternates his focus between the Confederate and Union officer corps. As he does, the reader's alternates his sympathies as well. Both sides fight well, and both sides have their heroes. Indeed, the officers themselves feel sympathy for their counterparts, who are their former brothers in arms. There is superb military action in the book, stirringly portrayed, but Shaara also writes about the enjoyment that a military man feels for the beautiful country he fights in, his sense of duty, the bonds between him and his fellow soldiers, and the simple pleasures of eating, drinking, and sleeping when opportunities to do these things are scarce.
Shaara also has much to say about what has been called the fog of war: the lack of reliable information, the failure to use information when it is available, errors in judgment, and unreliable subordinates. A major theme of the book is path dependence: the tendency of past decisions to limit current options. The decision to strike far into Union territory makes it hard for the Confederate forces to be patient: their supply lines are long, and enemies surround them. With the Union troops occupying the better ground, Lee presses for an unambiguous victory that his generals think is unattainable, leading to a well known outcome: Gettysburg was the Confederacy's high water mark in the military conflict between the States, and the South was never able to mount a major offensive campaign again.
Book Review: A moving story of men and war
Summary: 5 Stars
This book came out during a period when I had no time to read. Then when the time came along, it was next to impossible to find a copy. I finally did track one down and was blown away. I adore Scottish History, but since I was raised part time in the States, I grew to love the complexities of the Civil War (in the South US it's called the War Between the States). The reasons for the war, the motivation for people to fight their neighbour, often their own brother or family members was mesmerising. Bruce Catton gave me such insight into all the factors through his marvellous works, so I thought no writer could touch him in making you feel, see and understand the men, the generals, the affect the Civil War had on a nation.However, a writer did, and oddly enough with fiction. Michael Shaara won a Pulitzer Prize for the moving work that focuses on the one pivotal battle, the high-water mark of the War Between the States. He gives you the frustration of men driven to kill their brothers, of the futility, the waste. Centring on Lee, floundering at the loss of his right hand Jackson, of being cut off from screening and blind without information because Stuart was on one of his glory rides, of one general who could not follow orders, of another, Longstreet, who followed them to the letter knowing he was sending his 'boys' to their death in the glorious, yet ultimately disastrous Pickett's charge.
But it through Col. J.L. Chamberlain where Shaara succeeds the most, in giving you the humanity, the nightmare, the pathos, of the men of 20th Maine regiment, volunteers who held the Union's left flank on the second day of the battle at Little Round Top.
The book is so moving, so touching that it makes you view the war in a way you never have before. If only, he had included Captain James Hall of the 2nd Maine Battery...
This was turned into the wonderful film GETTYSBURG, which I also recommend highly with some truly memorable performances. However, be sure to read the book as well, for you will never forget the beautiful prose of Shaara.
Also recommended are Jeff Shaara his son's books that form a trilogy with Gods and General the prequel and The Last Full Measure the Ending.
Book Review: The Civil War never interested me much
Summary: 5 Stars
At least that was true until I read Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels." Now I'm a goner. I have bought five more books on the Civil War including McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom," a huge tome that promises to fill me in on the whole historical context, time, place, politics, all of it. All this happened because I was interested in a single book. This is Michael Shaara's fault.It is of no consequence that the prospective reader may not have the slightest interest in war, the Civil War in particular, guns, Gettysburg, generals, muskets, artillery, smoke, fire, or death. All the reader need be interested in is a good book that is a pleasure, an enlightening experience, to read. If you like reading, if you enjoy books that captivate, that keep you turning pages, that won't let you sleep, then buy this book.
Let me note here that the author indulges in several literary devices that might pain the true Civil War buff. He uses interior monologues which are, of course, pure fiction (though based on written material of the time). He also centers his story on two major fights that took place at Gettysburg: the battle of Little Roundtop, and Pickett's Charge, even though quite a lot of other great moments occurred there. Both these battles are told well, and the characters of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain - the commander of the 20th Maine who held Little Round Top against attacking Confederates to the "last bullet," and James Longstreet, commander of the I Corps of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia who had serious differences with his superior over the tactics used at Gettysburg, are explored at depth.
By necessity, Shaara could not tell, in a single novel (for that is what this book is), all that happened those three fateful days. For those who want to know more I refer you to Shelby Foote's "Stars In Their Courses."
I aim this review at those who are unsure of whether a Civil War novel is what they want to read. Be assured you will not be disappointed. This is a truly fine book, especially for the uninitiated, as I was. I recommend this book to all without hesitation.