The Killer Angels

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Customer Reviews:

history class [Posted on 2008-10-07]
This book is great. The point of view is that of the other person. I had to buy this book for AP US History and I don't regret it!

kids book, barely worth reading [Posted on 2008-10-09]
Okay i got into the civil war when i was an adolescent -- i loved the ken burns book/documentary and glory... I read the killer angels and loved it... granted i was twelve... i guess i wasn't into characters, and didn't see when they were poorly developed... i liked the military history, but didn't know that the author's portrayal of history was indeed FICTIONAL...

Zoom to today... i study the civil war in college now... i recently read the killer angels again... but i shouldn't have... i should have left my childhood affinity for that book alone... the re-read was a disappointment for several reasons:

#1 - I get into the technicalities of military history and the importance of certain troop movements & fights, however i think some of the most important details are wrong, or omitted... I know this is fiction, but really, it seems like it's trying to be historically accurate... but it falls short of that by succumbing to the same old biases and embellishments that plague Civil War history... For instance, I believe the significance of the Iron Brigade's fights on the first day were the fiercest and more historically important to the outcome of the battle than the other two days (just look at the 70% casualty rate). In comparison, to day 1 fighting, Chamberlain & the 20th Maine's fight was a skirmish. The actions of dead Western (Midwestern) men mentioned briefly in this fictional story, were the reason many a Maine man survived to tell their tall tales. Also the significance of Reynolds actions, the politics of rank between Hancock and Meade & him so integral to the Gettysburg story, are ignored as well. There are so many really touching, tragic & dramatic stories in Gettysburg, but this book focuses on few of them.

#2 - This is a poorly written piece of commercial literature. There's no real insight into any characters. The dialogue is laughable.


I will give it two stars, only because there is still a soft spot for it in my heart, because i read it when i was young... same with movie Gettysburg... just watched that again recently... ugghhhh.... everything bad and wrong about that book was magnified in the movie... i should have left my fond memories of that movie alone too....

I recommend: The Iron Brigade (Alan T Nolan), In the Bloody Railroad Cut at Gettysburg (Lance J Herdegen), and Noah Trudeau's thorough chronological study of Gettysburg... also, Herdegen has a brand new book out called "Those damn black hats" about the Iron Brigade at Gettysburg.

The Killer Angels [Posted on 2008-10-13]
Michael Shaara's magnificent historical novel on the Battle of Gettysburg is history at its finest. Shaara gives us a study of leadership which gives us a personal perspective of courage and leadership. Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain shows us a man of books thrust into war and how he handles a very critical moment when the fate of the battle hangs on what he decides. We witness Confederate General Longstreet struggle with personal tragedy and the curse of being strategically ahead of his time. The study of leadership on both sides is of such quality that today many collegiate R.O.T.C. programs have made Killer Angels a required text. A must read for any Civil War buff.

Beautifully written and a joy to read [Posted on 2008-11-06]
One of two books read in my entire lifetime that I consider a masterpiece.

This book's language is sweet, smooth-flowing, stunning in its simplicity and focus. The Battle of Gettysburg is well documented and has been written about since July 4, 1863..... but to someone unversed in warfare and battlefields, it brought home the bravery, certainty and uncertainty, fear, foolishness, conflicts, nobility, and humanity of the men struggling to survive the 3 days in Pennsylvania that turned the tide of the war.

I loved the structure of the novel - alternating chapters among the key figures of the war - Lee, Chamberlain, Longstreet, Buford, Armistead, The Spy, Freemantle. I appreciated the maps, the brief biographical notes at the beginning of the novel and the afterward describing the principal characters lives after the war.

I want to learn more about Longstreet and Chamberlain particularly and want to see Gettysburg.

I'm not sure I could have appreciated this book at any earlier time in my life so am grateful that I've read it now.

There is a Reason This Won a Pulitzer Prize [Posted on 2008-11-11]
"The Killer Angels" is several books in one. First, it is a splendid overview of the Battle of Gettysburg. From Buford's establishing the high ground, the armies converging on the previously inconsequential place, Lee overriding Longstreet's tactical advice, and Chamberlain's countercharge when the ammunition ran out to Pickett's ill fated charge on the final day, Shaara describes the battle in riveting detail. The sights, the sounds, the smells,the emotions....everything is portrayed in a narrative that puts the reader squarely in the middle of the battle.

But the book is so much more. Shaara climbs inside the heads of the key players--particularly Longstreet and Chamberlain. Longstreet, the old warrior who has inherited Stonewall Jackson's position as Lee's right hand, is a tactician far ahead of his time who has, for a variety of reasons, become somewhat jaded on life in general and on "the glorious cause" in particular. Chamberlain is the Bowdoin college professor who volunteered for the war and found that, despite its horrors, he truly loves it. And then there is Lo Armistead who swore he would never fight his friend and soulmate Win Hancock, but ends up having to do exactly that on the final day.

Shaara examines Lee in considerable detail--his struggle with breaking his vows to the Union because he could not fight against his homeland (Virginia), his physical problems as an overworked fifty-seven year old man with cardiac problems and his deep religious faith. He is also exposed as a mediocre tactician whose great strengths are his character, his ability to inspire his men and his ability to act decisively.

Through the British observer, Freemantle, the Southern cultural structure is observed as being very similar to that of Great Britain. In fact, Freemantle at one point envisions the Confederacy returning to the Queen if it were to win the war.

The depth of this relatively small historical novel is immense. The battle is explained with numerous helpful maps, and both the foreword and the afterword set the participants in their proper historical perspective. The narrative is simple but compelling. This is one of the very finest books I have ever read....in any genre. It absolutely deserved the Pulitzer Prize it won in 1975!!!

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