The Killer Angels

Rating:
Summary: UNDERSTANDING THE MEN & GENS. OF GETTYSBURG...
Review: This book makes the men and GENS. come alive.It has opened a whole new world for me as a reader and a AMERICAN. It shows you the PRIDE of the people that were fighting the battle,it gives you understanding of a time long gone,and the building of a nation...

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, vivid, engaging; a book I couldn't put down.
Review: This is one of those rare reads that ends up feeling more like you've been through an experience than just read words on a page. I'm not a Civil War buff, and I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the people involved, but I came away from this book with a vivid sense of the humanity of these historical figures. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing and brilliant imagery and emotions.
Review: Great book. It gives you an understanding of the emotions and feelings of all the men involved in the war. I did not want the book to end.

Rating:
Summary: This book was an incredible portrayal of this great battle.
Review: This was by far Shaara's best work. He leads the reader to a climax almost as if you didn't know what the outcome was. I myself am an avid student of the Civil War, and I have never read a better fiction or non-fiction book. All other book about the any battle of the Civil War pales in comparison. No author has ever had the success in bringing characters like Lee, Longstreet, Chaimberlain alive. This is one of the few books that makes you actually yearn to read more after the end. Shaara has created an instant masterpeice.

Rating:
Summary: Civil War Buffs Must Read
Review: I never read a book after I have seen a movie made from it. This was an exception. I loved the movie "Gettysburg." I decided to read the book recently. It's true that the movie was so accurate as to have exact lines that remained in the movie from the book. I was transported into the personalities involved as the author delves into the personal asides of the major characters. It's almost difficult to remember that this is a novel, and only speculation as to what might have been said, etc. It is a thoroughly enjoyable picture of the people who played large roles in the battle of Gettysburg.As a personal note, I read some of the book while listening to the C.D. soundtrack from the movie. It added a little drama, and brought the scenes from the movie back to memory as I read.

Rating:
Summary: Historical Fiction about Gettysburg
Review: Probably the best novel to come from the Civil War. It was not only entertaining but instructive - depicted the layout of the land, troop positions, and battle strategies, enabling the reader to comprehend the three days of engagement at Gettysburg.

Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for those interested in the civil war
Review: This novel is the basis for the movie Gettysburg. I have seen the movie several times...and it still amazes me how much the movie takes from the book. Lines are used verbatim...and the images you get from the book...you can see right on the screen. The book is very well written and makes you feel like you are a part of the battle. Although originally published in 1974...this will probably remain an all time classic.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps one of the best historical novels ever.
Review: This was an incredible read. It imparts all of the tension, drama and romance needed to give an in depth view into the events surrounding and during Gettysburg. I've read it over and over, as well as Jeff Shaara's "Gods and Generals".

Rating:
Summary: American Myth
Review: A great story-teller focused on the most significant single story in the history of our country. Shaara's book does not, as the Amazon Military Book Editor states "reveal more about the Battle of Gettysburg than any piece of learned nonfiction on the same subject" - there are several works of history and narrative history (e.g. Coddington or Foote) which exceed Shaara on that point. However, that is not to detract from what Killer Angels achieves: brilliant, emotional insight into the American character, revealed against our most terrible landscape. What Shaara does reveal, with consummate skill, is the nature of our collective national spirit. The pace is fierce and the emotion high - it is with difficulty that we are forced, in the end, to march in step with Armistead, Garnett, Kemper, Pickett and their soldiers to the horror and honor that waits for them on the approach to Cemetery Ridge. Shaara did his homework, he knows his history of this great battle, but his great accomplishment is his portrayal of the individuals, the people, real people of flesh and blood, weakness and strength, hopes and dreams, fears and biases, whose paths crossed in a terrible, catastrophic conflict, pitting friend against friend, brother against brother. The Battle of Gettysburg was a defining moment in our country's national myth, revealing much of what is great and terrible in all of us. Shaara performed a great service in telling that story, on a personal, individual level, better than it has ever been told before.

Rating:
Summary: A Welshman's view of your'e civil war's greatest battle
Review: In June 1979 ,having always had an interest in the american civil war, I visited Gettysburg. After the bus tour around the battlefield and visits to various museums I made my way to catch the Greyhound Bus back to Pittsburg. Havig just alittle time left Iwent in to abookshop and chose one book to bring back. It turned out to be the most moving thrilling account of the war I have ever read. I must have read it many times since and never tire of Shaara's brilliant description of men under fire. The release of Turner's film re kindled the interest for me and am determined to visit Gettysburg one more time in the near future. Also,to visit Chaimberlain's house in Brunswick is another ambition. Diolch yn fawr iawn.(That's welsh for "Thanks very much)