Rating: 
Summary: The Killer Angels
Review: Mike 8a 11-30-04
The Killer Angels
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is a book that a history lover or people interested in the Civil War would love. This book is great for school or if you just like reading. Its like a movie you watch again and again but never get tired of it.
This book takes place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in June 29, 1863 and about the struggles the Union and the Rebels had in the Civil War and the decisions that changed their life, the war, and its outcome.
The Generals of the North and the South such as Robert Edward Lee, James Longstreet, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and many more had many things in common such as they were American and they loved there country dearly but they had many differences and the biggest one of all is there opinion of the war and how to fight it. As these men make the biggest decisions of there life's they must fight terrible battles and sustain horrible losses. With wins and losses to both sides they fight for the future of their country.
Overall I enjoyed every minute of this book! I read it and learned more about than I thought ever took place at the battle of Gettysburg. Just by reading the book I thought that I was there. You can taste the tastes, you can hear the thunder of cannons, you can feel the pain that the brave men felt, you can smell the smoke, and you can see the beauty and the horror of the War that took place in Gettysburg. I loved the book and I think you will too.
Rating: 
Summary: PLODDING ACADEMIC ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE
Review: The Killer Angels is one of those rare books that seems to avoid all criticism - so many critics, readers and Civil War enthusiasts have placed this book as the untouchable vanguard of the genre. As an avid fan of historical fiction & Civil War reenactor myself (PA23rd, Birney's Zouaves), I had much higher hopes. Having just completed the absolutely amazing Civil War era "Starbuck" series from Bernard Cornwell, I was really expecting more. The Killer Angels succeeds as a blow by blow account of the battle of Gettysburg. Where it fails, and fails miserably in my opinion, is that it never develops any characters - they're all rather two-dimensional, it seems that they all have a predestined agenda and Michael Shaara is going to get them there without looking left or right. The sense of individual discovery is lacking, as well as the sense of battle, the smells, the horror, & the whistle of the minie ball.
For an academic account of the battle and a review of the major players, this book succeeds. However, I don't think it's the best book out there on life in the Civil War.
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Summary: A brilliant work, the best civil war novel I have ever read.
Review: Even if you are not a Civil War buff, forget about it! This book will touch your heart and sometimes amaze you. Friends and collegues fighting against one another, killing one another as they stand behind their strongest convinctions. The author reveals this story primarily from the point of view of the officers on both sides as they ponder the circumstances and consider what they must sacrifice in order to win. The story is the battle of Gettysburg, three bloody days in July 1863 told through the eyes and hearts of the men who stood across the battlefield from one another and witnessed the bloodiest battle in American History. (More American's died on the fields of Gettysburg in three days than during the entire Vietnam war) For me, it's a difficult thing to consider Americans killing Americans for what they believe in. Of course, in the modern era Americans are still shooting at each other, but usually it's of a criminal nature. Back then, it was to defend values and character. This book opens up a world that has been long forgotten. It is a brilliant work that has given me a fine appreciation of what it means to die for what you believe in. Even if you hate the civil war, you should give this book a try. It is enjoyable on many levels.
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Summary: One Of The Best Books I've Ever Read.
Review: I can't say many positive things about this book that have not already been posted. But from my personal view, "Killer Angels" is one of the best novels I have ever read.
Most of what I knew of Gettysburg was from high school history and a few documentaries here and there. This book brings history to life by drawing the reader into the personalities of the participants. The most profound thing I came away with upon completion of the novel is how one man's decision or indecision at a specific moment in time can influence history. I strongly recommend this book to everyone, even readers not interested in war novels per se. This is novel about people & humanity, the battle of Gettysburg serves as a back drop. 10 stars if I could.
Rating: 
Summary: A little too realistic
Review: I don't think that I really agree with all of the reviews about this story.
1) I agree it is very factual. All of the events and descriptions takes the reader to the battlefield. It reads more like a play-by-play of Gettysburg than a fictional novel.
2) The military leaders come to life during the read. Lee, Chamberlain, and Longstreet are all heroes; each with their own failings.
I did enjoy the story, however the plot was the battle of Gettysburg itself, rather than a fictional story set during the Battle of Gettysburg.
I would recommend this story for fans of authentic historical battle descriptions. I would not recommend this book for somebody who is looking for "Historical Fiction".
Rating: 
Summary: Good for a study of military strategy...
Review: I normally don't write online reviews, but I felt I should in this case as other one-star reviews about this book seem to lack a certain depth to them.
I read this book as part of a requirement for a US History class, expecting many great things from it as I had heard and seen only positive reviews of it. I was sorely disappointed.
The gist of the book is this: the first several chapters are introductions to the major players, and the next three-quarters of the book involve NOTHING except long, monotonous chapter after long, monotonous chapter of each side shifting troops around. First the Union troops go a-thisaway, then they go a-thattaway. Ditto for the Confederates. Finally, they all get in their final positions, and something *actually* happens: the battle of Gettysburg. But since the actual fighting doesn't occur until the last few chapters of the book, the actual "meat" of the story is just troop movements.
Since I'm not especially oriented to or captivated by detailed military movements, I must say that I found detailed accounts of troop movements EXTREMELY tedious. (I should add here that I have no troubles in general reading long books with many intricate occurances in them. I am a huge fan of the works of Victorian author Anthony Trollope, whose books, on average, range between 400 and 1,200 pages each and involve at least two to four subplots in addition to the main plot.) As an avid reader of many genres, this is the first book that I had a real difficulty in completing because it literally put me to sleep every time I tried to plod through *yet another* chapter of troop-shifting.
I highly recommend that if you don't find endless chapter after endless chapter of troop movements interesting (or if the concept alone is daunting to you), you should NOT read this book. If you must read it for a class, I suggest that you read the first five chapters, then skip ahead and read the last five chapters. Just consult the Cliff Notes version of this book for what happens in the skipped chapters. If, however, you are truly riveted by military strategy (or you'd just like to learn a lot more about it), this is indeed the book for you.
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Summary: An engaging narrative into Gettysburg
Review: I've never been much of a Civil War buff, so The Killer Angels was a new genre for me. I'm glad I stumbled upon this fictionalized history of the Battle of Gettysburg, somewhat like the Union and Rebel Armies stumbled upon each other in that hot Pennsylvania town , 75-some miles due north of Washington D.C. It's hard for me to sympathize with the treasonous, slave-owning Confederates, and Michael Shaara manages to paint a picture of a class-based Southern society closer to England's than our own. That insight alone was worth the price of the book. The Union Army's rabid egalitarianism, personified by Maine's Josua Lawrence Chamberlain, one of the heroes of the Battle and of the war, was similarly insightful. There's a real poignancy from the older generals conflicted at fighting against one another, especially those that fought together in Mexico a few decades earlier. And the vivid descriptions of the great battles are stamped upon my memory. This book is worth a read to understand how so many perished to sustain a nation conceived in liberty and rededicate ourselves -- the living -- to ensure that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.
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Summary: Best Book Written on the Civil War
Review: The Killer Angels is the best book written on the Civil War. It gives the perspective from both sides of why they fought the war, has stirring examples of courage and leadership (e.g. Chamberlain and Reynolds and Armistead and Longstreet) again from both sides and provides and provides and in depth study of command in the Confederate army (Lee and Longstreet). On top of all that, it does a good job of laying out in layman's terms the key elements of the battle of Gettysburg. It was the basis for the movie. If there is one book on the Civil War that you should read, this is it.
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Summary: This book is cool = D
Review: The Killer Angels reviewed by Joseph LeeThe Killer Angels, written by Michael Shaara, will surely not disappoint the fans of books on war and battles. Shown by this novel, it seems that Michael Shaara is an expert at this topic of story. This novel will keep you intensely caught up as if you were reading straight out of a Civil War journal that got every glimpse of the battle of Gettysburg. It's not a surprise that this book has won the Pulitzer Prize. With its maps and its well-written text that people can understand in very well, the novel is easy to follow through. Even though this novel is only based on three days, it will give out very good information. The book is mainly based on the characters of General Robert E. Lee and General Mead. Although they are the main characters, many sections of the novel are put towards General Chamberlain, General Longstreet, General Buford, and General Pickett. Each chapter goes to a general and his men. It reveals the things they went through and what kind of fighting each regiment had through both eyes of the Confederate and the Union. This novel truly showed what two sides of one nation and the dreams of both sides were fighting for in the four bloodiest days of the United States of Americas history. This novel makes a reenactment in your head. Showing that not only did the soldiers go into war with just orders, but with honor, pride, dreams, vengeance, and moral issues that was stirred up by the society of the 1800's. As Michael Shaara shows the generals, he doesn't just tell the reader a story but he brings in the reader by showing the mind of the Generals. Shaara shows things like the strategies the Generals had, the ideas that the Generals came up with, how the Generals felt about the other side, and on what they felt about the war (why their in it and why should they be). For anyone who wants to know more about the Civil War or just wants a great a good adventure, this book is strongly recommended. I feel this book was just extraordinary in detail and in climax. Chapter after chapter the climax builds and builds and even though the reader knows what went on in the war, this novel is still strongly recommended. This novel may just give the reader some things they didn't know.
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Summary: An intimate, personal story of the Civil War
Review: The Killer Angels, as championed in the Author's Note, tears down the barriers that sterile non-fiction accounts of the Civil War tend to create. The reader is hurled into the raw, gritty world of the Civil War, where death and agony mingle with camaraderie and courage in the smoky air of battle. Gone are the glossed-over descriptions of battles. Gone are the disaffected, removed accounts of battle. What remains, the psychological struggle of the fighting men, is presented in a pure, heart-wrenching manner. We vividly feel the despair of Longstreet, the incredible weariness of Lee, the idealistic questioning of Chamberlain and Armistead as they fight and die in the greatest battle in American history. We smell the gunpowder, see the glint of rifles in the sun, hear the shrieks of the wounded, and empathize with the moral plight of the combatants. And, as the book closes, we no longer cheer blindly for the Union or curse the Confederacy; we simply lower our heads in respect and awe for the individual soldier who, regardless of allegiance, braved enemy fire and his own personal demons to do what he felt was right.
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