he Killer Angels Book Review

Michael Shaara wrote the book killer angel’s and was published by McKay in 1974. The Killer Angels is a novel about the turning point in the Civil War. In this book, Shaara follows the colonels and Generals of both the Union and Confederate sides from June 29, 1863, until July 3, 1863. The novel outlines the strategy and logic used by each of the leaders of the army groups, along with the non-war side of each officer.

Summary

The story “killer angle’s” is a historical fictionalized novel talking about civil war; to be more precise, the battle of Gettysburg which took place in America which brought about the victory of the union which was the northern side and the fall of the Confederacy which was the southerners. The war was set from 29th June to 3rd July 1863, and it marked the major turning point of the civil war. The two fronts were fighting for very different reasons. The southern state was fighting for the rights of their nation; they wanted to keep their independence and slavery issue away from the union. The Southerners thought that slaves were just mere animals but not human beings. A man from south commending about fleeing the slaves refers to them as stallions, meaning a slave was equal to a horse (p 177). The northern members on the other hand were initially fighting to preserve the union. However, later after the emancipation proclamation, the focus changed to ending slavery.

The war was under the leadership of several soldiers and commanders from the two groups including, lee, Chamberlain, and Longstreet. Michael Shaara paints a picture of what happened during the war from a tactical point of planning to the emotional hardships that the soldiers went through. The novel was written from the point of people fighting as they shared their feeling and thoughts.  The killer angels concentrate on the battle which happened. The book starts by giving details about the people involved and the armies and focuses more on the war and the reasons the fight occurred (Nicholson 2015).

The novel opens with a Confederate spy as he walked through the union lines at night on the 29th of June towards the Confederate general lee’s headquarters with news about the army of Potomac who converged in one of the towns of Gettysburg. The day after followed the different confederate and union regiments as they assembled from previous battles and moved to Gettysburg where the action took place.

Why were they fighting? Before answering the question, it’s necessary to shed light on the theme of the story. The central theme or idea of the book is all about civil war. The story helps in building a sense of patriotism within the members of a given country. The answer to the question is that those individuals from the southern part wanted to preserve slavery while the members of the northern part wanted to eradicate slavery and free the blacks completely. Immediately after issuing the emancipation proclamation during the eve of the New Year’s Day, the soldiers from the union side recognized and grasped the opportunity to end slavery; they extended the freedom promise to the blacks as the brains behind the declaration intended (Russo 2017).

When the war started, Michael explains the severe aspect of the battle and the life of the soldiers by illuminating whoever reads the book on the life the hard-hearted men went through. When some light is shed on Lewis Armistead’s and James Longstreet past experiences, a clear picture of actual people appears. Longstreet after he lost three of his kids to fever, he was thrown to the war. Confederate Armistead, on the other hand, was forced into the fight after he was faced by two horrific event that is, losing his wife and also one of his best friends Winfield Scott who was a Union general. Shaara again, still in the same narrations takes us through the struggles of general chamberlain. He was fixed between two sharp ends, one; he had to perform his duty as a soldier and support his members in fighting the battle while on the other hand, he was tasked with the responsibility of protecting ‘Tom” his younger brother without favoritism. Robert Lees experience was not left out in the novel. Shaara stresses the theme of the story using Lee by the fact that, he was an old man, aged fifty-seven years, to add on that, he had a heart problem which at long last kills him. The impactful part of the novel was that Shaara developed real people like the characters in the book who have dreams, fear, feeling and hopes.

Shaara uses vivid imagery as one of the stylistic devices in the story such as, ”union gun firing, men moving among the guns, hunched, a bloody horse running eerily by, three-legged, horrible sight, running towards the road. Another horse down with no head, like a broken toy,” (p 310). Such devices catch the attention of the reader. It also helps in explaining how horrific and terrible the battle was hence building the understanding of the reader concerning war.

On the same note, Shaara also used other forms of stylistic devices, he used conventional narrative and relevantly applies monologues which give an effect of enthusiastic receding to all the readers. The style is also awe-inspiring as it leaves the readers to appreciate all the soldiers who participated in the battle. The thesis of the author through the book tries to bring out the view about political scenarios of the U.S, especially during president Abraham time.  Abraham embraced his policy of preserving regional unity without clarifying whether slavery to be retained or abolished.

In the killer angels, another pronounced theme which Shaara brings out concerns love. Using Chamberlain case, he used his brother, Tom, to plug a gap in the brigade line at a particular time in the battle. At the end of the whole story, Chamberlain’s case is used to explain how he valued and loved his brother’s life to the extent of underperforming in the war. Chamberlain would not have cared if he respected the battle over his flesh and blood. On another instance during the war, Chamberlain goes to bed remembering what her wife had written to him in a letter. Throughout the story, some soldiers from both sides are found thinking about their families.

Recommendation

Reading the novel gave me a chance to learn about one of the significant historical battles. I recommend this book for anyone above the age of 15 years. For the people who know and who don’t know about the Gettysburg war, the text gives a clear understanding of what happened in just four days. The book is also good for instilling morals in our growing youthful generation especially a sense of loyalty, patriotism, and love for our families. The novel is also good for entertainment purpose, and so it is worthwhile.

Work cited

Nicholson, Andrea. ”A Critical Analysis of the Killer Angels.“(2015).

Russo, Peggy A. ”Adapting the Killer Angels.“The American Civil War on Film and TV: Blue          and Gray in Black and White and Color (2017): 151.