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The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War (Modern Library)
written by Michael Shaara
Studio : Modern Library
by Modern Library
Release Date : 2004-11-02
Publisher : Modern Library
Released : 2004-11-02
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780679643241
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 19 reviews)
List Price : $22.95
Our Price : $12.94
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Product Description |
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A reissue of a Pulitzer prize-winning classic, and now the major motion picture GETTYSBURG. As a result of these acclamations, this book is considered one of the greatest novels written on the Civil War. |
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Great read even if you're not a history buff! |
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Recommended by a friend, this book has jumped to the top of my list of favorites. The play by play picture painted about the battle of Gettysburg will teach you more about the event than ever taught in High School. More importantly, it's a human story of leadership, failure and triumph. In the end, you'll be left with only one thought, "Wow!" |
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a book for the ages! |
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KILLER ANGELS is one of those books I've always wanted to read but for some reason I just never got around to it. It is my favorite genre(historical fiction) and one of my favorite periods in American history(Civil War), I've lost count of the number of people who recommended it to me. So one fine summer July day in the year 2008 I see it on the shelf in my local library and with no hesitation I pluck it off the shelf. I get home and begin to read this gem of a book. I've read no finer book on the Civil War. There are plenty of reviews here and there to give you all the details you need so there is very little I can add to those reviews. But when you read a book that is so heavily anticipated (it won a Pulitzer for Pete's sake!) and the book so easily surpasses those expectations then it indeed it is a special book. When a writer writes with so much empathy and understanding for his characters and story line as Michael Shaara does then it is a book that you will never forget. This is one of those rare gems that forever will stay with you. Very few books reach that level as far as I'm concerned. A work of passion, intelligence, compassion and wisdom. My only problem is that I wanted more. I didn't want it to end, luckily for us Mr Shaara left us an equally talented son to carry on his work. |
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The Spy of Gettysburg |
This was a major battle (Gettysburg, PA) between the Norhern VA massive group of 70,000 and the indomnable Union fighters that fateful day in one of the bloodiest fights of that war. Antienam in Maryland was the bloodiest with Atlanta's "fallen" depicted in 'Gone With the Wind' and Shiloh not far behind in numbers of casualties.
This fictional account of the Gettysburg massacre on both sides won a Pulitzer prize for Michael Shaara who uses the liberties of creative writing to make these men and their families "real." The most real of them all was the spy, Harrison, who reported to General Lee while JEB Stuart was out about town living it up and getting all of the attention. If you read enough about the U.S. Civil War, you'll realize right away that the truth, though mired in the mud of dissession and cow pastures from one end of the small country as it was in June, 1862, to the East Coast.
It was not the most dramatic confrontation (my choide would be Shiloh, which I drove to many times to meander around the large battlefield on many occasions), as much or more than our yearly trips to Gettysburg (not far from Westminster where Evelyn lived) which received more notice because of Abraham Lincoln's moving address. He had a way with words for a self-educated Kentuckian. But Shiloh, in Tennessee, endured more detailed plans for combat and Johnston met his destiny.
When we read what the scholars chose as the most important, we miss the human part of war (as we are doing now in that God-forsaken, medieval place in the Middle East, and are presented with statistics to prove their choices. Every Civil War encounter has the spy (like young Sam Davis of Smyrna) who met his demise on a lonely hill in Pulaski, TN. Without spies, the generals and their staff are left with maps but that's about all. The spies made the war come alive. Instead of a far flung field or stream far away from home, the spies kept the action going by risking their lives to get important information and plans to the leaders. 'The Killer Anmgels' were on Robert E. Lee's left shoulder but his melancholia wore him down emotionally. Without his generals (Nathan Bedford Forrest being his very best), there would have been no war. The spy Harrison blew cigar smoke "puffing exuberantly like a happy furnace."
"Why do there have to be men like that, men who enjoy another man's misery?" Reading about factual (as far as the staticians knew or could figure) war atrocities can be dry and not very interesting to the average person. It has been de-personalized. Stephen Crane followed his heart and instincts in 'The Red Badge of Courage' to bring the participants to life on paper and not merely a statistic. He inspired Michael Shaara to do much of the same. "The interpretation of character is my own," he wrote. At all times, especially in times of danger to one's life, you must keep one's sense of humor. I thought Mark had one but apparently I was mistaken. This book was written 34 years ago, the year Justin was born. Always the rebel, like his mom, he could not have been a spy. Brave, smart, something of an actor (like John Wilkes Booth), like Jeff could quote Shakespeare from memory, lucky and strong. "It has been my pleasure, sir, to have served such a man...God bless you, sir. Now, it is all in God's hands." |
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The Three Days that Decided the War. |
I had been always interested in Americas' Civil War and had read some excellent books on the subject such as A Brotherhood Of Valor: The Common Soldiers Of The Stonewall Brigade C S A And The Iron Brigade U S A, Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg and Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States) but "The Killer Angels" is a very special one.
Late Michael Shaara has performed an excellent research on the private papers of the battle protagonist. Based on this material he produce a griping story, presenting the men that march to the tragic encounter, with their ideals, memories, sorrows, doubts & hopes.
He follows Generals Lee and Longstreet and Colonel Chamberlain amongst others, penetrating their most intimate thoughts in such a way that the reader can't avoid wondering how this is possible.
Mr. Shaara does not pick sides, he presents the reader with the confronting "Cause", which every man into the field believes to be just, and for which is willing to shed his blood. The valor and self sacrifice these men deploy, is reflected in each page of this incredible good book.
Enough maps are shown enabling the reader to follow the displacement of the armies in the field.
For readers interested in Civil War, Michael's son, Jeff, has written Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure telling the events preceding and following this crucial struggle.
A great stuff to be read by history buffs or casual readers. Enjoy!!!.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
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Exquisite model for historical fiction |
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The compelling novel of Gettysburg that Laura Hillenbrand remarked was her model for "Seabiscuit". The times and events are different but the sylistic similarities are palpable. Short chapters. Short sentences, mostly. Extremely visual--concrete, up-close, detailed scenes, always with a dramatic tension. Superbly structured--makes the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the most confusing battles of the 19th Century, sparklingly clear. Accomplished by shifitng the viewpoint from one key character to another, from chapter to chapter (mainly Longstreet and Chamberlain, also Buford, Armistead, and Lee). This is art, and is not easy; the product of intense hard work, with the reader's welfare always paramount. Above all, a human story of real people under stress, striving, where the stakes matter. At the same time, Shaara manages to explicate the larger causes of the war, and in the mouths of his characters he ably argues both the National and the Rebel viewpoints. A masterpiece. |
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