Rating: 
Summary: Chilling
Review: This book is a great retelling of the Battle of Gettysburg. There is a lot of time spent introducing the main characters of the battle and some of the events leading up to the battle.
The book somewhat focuses on the character of Joshua Chamberlain who leads a regiment from Maine into the battle. Shaara breaths life into all of the characters and handles details of the battle so well, that I did have trouble staying with the story. Some historical novels can get bogged down by details that a reader can loose interest. Shaara's treatment is wonderful and his characterizations allow you to enter the minds of Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, and Hancock.
I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Civil War and/or Gettysburg.
Rating:
Summary: An unparalleled example of Civil War fiction
Review: 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.
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