Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, A Book Review by Rebecca Moll
I have a habit of trying to place myself back into history, see myself in the troubles and triumphs of the past, walk the footsteps of those at the time and imagine what it was like. What were they thinking? Did they feel love and compassion, jealousy and hatred like today? Were they happy? Did they live in the present or pine for tomorrow?
How different the world was in the late 1800s. But how different were the people? If only I could step back in time.
The Civil War looms large in our history, a renting of a nation and its people, brother against brother, father against son, friend against friend, lover against love. If I think back to that time, it is Gettysburg, those four days, that especially comes to mind, for it is remembered as not only one of the bloodiest battles with the largest number of casualties, but also the turning point in the war.
If you love history for those that were involved, long to feel what they felt, know their thoughts, then take a turn with Killer Angels. Michael Shaara dives not only in the movements and strategies, but into the minds of the men who made the decisions and carried them out.
Men of grey: Robert E. Lee, the beloved, James Longstreet “Old Pete”, Ambrose Powell Hill, Bad-tempered, moody & wealthy, Lewis Armistead, “Lo”, shy & silent, J.E.B. Stuart, laughing banjo player & a fine soldier, George Pickett, a pretty man who knew it, Richard Ewell, egg-bald & one legged, Jubal Early, cold, icy & bitter.
Men of blue: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a professor of Natural & Revealed Religion, fluent in seven languages & sings beautifully, John Buford, loves the great plains & knows the value of ground, George Gordon Meade, a gentleman courteous & marvelous horseman, George Gordon Meade, vain & bad tempered, full of self-pity, and Winfield Scott Hancock, Armistead’s old friend, magnetic, a fighter.
North, south, east, west, vastly different, unique. Educated, pugnacious, brilliant, talented, creative, irritating, vain, villainous and loved, these men of our past, fought for what they believed in and paid the price in body and soul for what we hold today.
Beautifully written and expertly portrayed, Shaara has created an unforgettable novel about an unforgettable battle and all the unforgettable men who fought, survived and died, those Killer Angels who brought justice and destruction, unity and suffering all in the name of freedom.
How different the world was in the late 1800s. But how different were the people? If only I could step back in time.
The Civil War looms large in our history, a renting of a nation and its people, brother against brother, father against son, friend against friend, lover against love. If I think back to that time, it is Gettysburg, those four days, that especially comes to mind, for it is remembered as not only one of the bloodiest battles with the largest number of casualties, but also the turning point in the war.
If you love history for those that were involved, long to feel what they felt, know their thoughts, then take a turn with Killer Angels. Michael Shaara dives not only in the movements and strategies, but into the minds of the men who made the decisions and carried them out.
Men of grey: Robert E. Lee, the beloved, James Longstreet “Old Pete”, Ambrose Powell Hill, Bad-tempered, moody & wealthy, Lewis Armistead, “Lo”, shy & silent, J.E.B. Stuart, laughing banjo player & a fine soldier, George Pickett, a pretty man who knew it, Richard Ewell, egg-bald & one legged, Jubal Early, cold, icy & bitter.
Men of blue: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a professor of Natural & Revealed Religion, fluent in seven languages & sings beautifully, John Buford, loves the great plains & knows the value of ground, George Gordon Meade, a gentleman courteous & marvelous horseman, George Gordon Meade, vain & bad tempered, full of self-pity, and Winfield Scott Hancock, Armistead’s old friend, magnetic, a fighter.
North, south, east, west, vastly different, unique. Educated, pugnacious, brilliant, talented, creative, irritating, vain, villainous and loved, these men of our past, fought for what they believed in and paid the price in body and soul for what we hold today.
Beautifully written and expertly portrayed, Shaara has created an unforgettable novel about an unforgettable battle and all the unforgettable men who fought, survived and died, those Killer Angels who brought justice and destruction, unity and suffering all in the name of freedom.
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