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Summary: Amazing Civil War Novel
Review: I have studied the Civil War for years in school, but they were all dates, statistics, names, not real. It didn't captivate my interest until I read this novel. It is an insight into the Civil War that you can't get from reading textbooks. The author portrays both the generals and the battles in a way that kept me reading until the end. He doesn't have any bias toward either side, which is rare in the Civil War books I have read. A must read for anyone because this is our past in a way that will please all and offend none.
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Summary: The Best One-Battle Book Ever.
Review: Virtually every seasoned Civil War buff has already read The Killer Angels, but there is a new generation of history readers coming along that must be made aware of this brilliant and compelling work of art. Even readers not particularly interested in military history would enjoy this wonderfully written and fact-based account of the Battle of Gettysburg, a major turning point in the war between the states.Shaara's account of Joshua Chamberlain's crucial defense of Little Roundtop and his repelling bayonet charge against a veteran Rebel force that had never tasted defeat will send chills up your spine. Red-blooded Americans north and south will cheer at the bravery, while simultaneously blanching at the folly and gore of a pitched battle. Shaara brings several things to this book. Fantastic characterizations is one. By book's end you feel as if you know and understand each major character and how and why they acted as they did. Ability to write is another. His descriptions of scene, battle, time, and emotion are top notch. The story pours out like fine wine. Shaara also breaks new ground with The Killer Angels by fictionalizing a historical event. This is a technique that will be copied many times over. His thorough research is to be commended as well. Shaara is that rare mix of good writer and historian. The only question I was left with at the end was why Lee, touted as such a military genius, would proceed with the ill-advised and ultimately tragic Pickett's Charge. I found the answer in Shelby Foote's "The Civil War." Lee, abandoned by Jeb Stuart's Cavalry, over-extended in enemy territory, out-numbered, under-supplied, and under the gun, returned to the one thing that had never failed him in campaign after campaign: the bold frontal attack that always seemed to rout the Yankees. It's hard to understand Lee's motivations without getting a broader sense of his prior actions. I recommend both books. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author Wake Up Dead.
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Summary: Suddenly, I find the Civil War very interesting.
Review: By now every Civil War buff in the country has read this book, and it appears that most of them have reviewed it for Amazon. I'm not a Civil War buff, and I'd just like to add that I was positively absorbed by this book. It's a marriage of conscientious research and remarkable narrative style. To have portrayed the leaders of the Union and Confederate armies at Gettysburg in a way that captures their humanity without lessening their grandeur is a monumental feat of authorship. I bought two copies of this book just so I would have a copy to lend.
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Summary: Are we reading the same book?
Review: Like the other reviewers, I loved this book. But looking at some of their comments in detail, I wonder if we were reading the same book. For example, the gentleman from Philadelphia who came away with confirmed admiration for Lee as a military strategist. Though I came away with deep admiration for the man, it seems to me that the book (rightly or wrongly) portrays Lee as a tactical idjit who lost the battle by failing to heed Longstreet's advice. Then there was the gentlemen who commented that the book started a genre of historical novel in which (I think he implied) all the characters are real and act according to the historical record, though of course their thoughts and some of their conversations are constructed by the author. However, Buster Kilrain, one of the central characters, is purely fictional. Nevertheless, it's a tribute to the book that, like the battle of Gettysburg itself or even the Civil War, people can be engrossed in and love the subject while understanding its meaning in different ways.
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Summary: Memorably brings Gettysburg to life
Review: Shaara starts the story of Gettysburg with half a dozen pages describing the land, the armies, and the key men on both sides: Lee, Longstreet, Chamberlain, Meade, Hancock, Pickett, Stuart, and more. Then there are four sections, one for June 29, 1863, and three covering the battle itself, July 1 through July 3. "The Killer Angels" is written as if it were a novel, and this is its strength. Stuart, scouting with the cavalry, was late back to Lee with little information, and this is often cited in the history books as a key point in the battle: Lee did not know to start with just how many Yankees he was facing. Shaara makes this come alive: we see Lee in his tent, worrying about where Stuart is; we hear gossip about court-martialing Stuart; we walk with Longstreet, thinking black thoughts about Stuart's irresponsibility. Time and again key points become vivid and unforgettable when seen through the lens of fiction. Pickett's charge; Chamberlain's defense of Little Round Top; Reynolds' death; Longstreet's urging of a defensive stance. The book contains material that is invented by Shaara. He went to great pains to make it accurate, but he says in the introduction: "I have not consciously changed any fact. I have condensed some of the action, for the sake of clarity, and eliminated some minr characters, for brevity, but [. . .] I have not knowingly violated the action." The book can't be used as a reference work on the battle. However, if you read it, the battle will be etched in your memory in a way that no dry textbook could ever achieve. Powerfully written, and highly recommended.
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Summary: A Powerful Work that Transcends Culture
Review: I am an Australian and have always possessed a curiosity about the American Civil War. I was loaned a copy of what a friend of mine said was a great book about the Battle of Geetysburg. I was enthusiastic but someheat put off by the title of"The Killer Angels". I can assure you I was not put off for long! This is a fine work and in my opinion the single finest piece of writing I have ever read. Interest in the subject helps of course but this is much more than a historical novel. This rich drama uses one of the major events of US history as a canvess on which to paint and depict the various aspects of humanity, human frailty and inhumanity which are a part of war. But more than this, the style in which this work is written also offers a keen insight into the workings of the minds of the central characters of Lee, Longstreet and Chamberlain. The quality of the writing places the reader at the centre of not only the action of battle but also the decsions which shaped its outcome and the personal interactions and conflicts which contain lessons in strategy, management and leadership. The truly remarkable aspects of work this transcend whether or not you are American. It is not surprising that Michael Shaara won a Pultizer Prize for this novel. I encourage any serious reader I know to read this book and indeed it has has crossed the country with me several times. This is a novel which looks into the heart of humanity under the extreme conditions of the horror of battle. Shaara's son Jeff has performed an admirable job with the "bookend" novels he has written to from a civil war trilogy. I would rate "Gods and Generals" a 4 star compared to "The Killer Angels" 5 but would rate "The Last Full Measure" as very nearly the equal of the original.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: This is the only Civil War book that kept my attention. It was easy to read, informative, and insiteful. It gave a very different look on the reasons for the war that I had never heard before. I strongly recommend reading it.
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Summary: Awesome
Review: I love to read. It is rare for me to truly hate a book but on the other hand, I have never been able to name my "favorite" book. That is until I read The Killer Angels. I memorized lines from this book for the pure pleasure of the way the words made me feel. This book is so powerful as to leave you with a hunger to read it over and over again. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the men on both sides of this war, coming to understand the importance that this war had on us a people today. I treasure my beat up, dog eared, and written in copy.
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Summary: Do not read this book
Review: I had to read this book for summer reading. I started on August 1, and its the 3rd of september and I am still not done. Why? This book is so boring and so difficult to understand. I have had to look at cliff notes online which are impossilbe to find. I am left completley blank on this book. Reading it was so boring that you dont't want to continue and even if you sit and make yourself read it, you are wasting your time because you dont retain any of the information. I am so upset that we were given this aweful book to read and I hope no one ever will again. If I was given a choice I wouldnt give it any stars.
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Summary: An Inspiration of the Human Soul
Review: I was introduced to this book by the movie based on it: Gettysburg. The movie itself made an impression on me and I read the book (the first time) starting at my first day of school in sixth grade. I've recently finished it for the third time in the second week of eighth grade. This book has changed my life and my whole focus of writing, my true passion. The book is about the men involved and how they affected what happened those three bloody days of American History. If you read this book I ask that you pay heed to Armistad's sole chapter. And see why this war is one of the most amazing the world will ever see
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