The Killer Angels By Michael Shaara

Summary of the Killer Angels by Michael Shaara This book takes place during the era of the American Civil War, more importantly the battle that was the turning point, Gettysburg. Important characters that play major roles such as, Robert E Lee, James Longstreet, and Joshua Chamberlain. Each one’s perspective and thoughts were foretold throughout the book and with some minor characters like Harrison the spy, Union General Buford, Jeb Stuart Lee's’ most trusted cavalry officer, and couple other who's tributes to the war is told.

In the book the killer angels they’re things that happen that changes America! The war in Gettysburg’s was the bloodiest war on America soil. Many men lost their life fighting for America! So till this day we Americans thank those brave soldiers for what they did! The battle of Gettysburg pretty much kicked of the Civil War.

Shaara made the battle of Gettysburg into vivid pictures through the actions of several generals and the events. In this book, Shaara’s way of writing pointed out that the outcome of the war was not an answer to determine who is good or evil. It is about how each character feel it and deal with the circumstance. Good people like Robert Lee could have made bad decisions based on his belief of honor; Harrison, an actor became a paid spy, was the one that was not supposed to be trustworthy performed heroically. These characters separated with their wives and kids, fighting against people from their own

The Battle of Gettysburg is considered one of the bloodiest battles during the Civil War, and an important mark in American history. The Killer Angels presents key moments of the battle, and the people who fought each for their own reasons. There are men who primarily fought for homeland, battled for an ideal, or combated for glory. There are three different men highlighted in the book that fought for these reasons. General Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate side, went into battle to fight for his homeland, which was Stratford Hall, Virginia. Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain, of the Union side, fought for the ideal of every man being treated equal and looking upon his men like family each of equal importance. General James Longstreet, of the Confederate side with General Lee, fought for glory and victory. Through understanding the personal priorities and values of these three individuals, it becomes clear why they decided to fight in the war.

The Killer Angels is a stunning recollection of the telltale battle of the Civil War: the Battle of Gettysburg. Set from June 29 to July 3, 1863 and told from the vantage points of several soldiers and commanding officers from both sides, including Lee, Longstreet, and Chamberlain, Michael Shaara effectively paints a picture of the war that divided America, from the tactical planning to the emotional hardships

There was never a bloodier war on American soil in history than the Civil War. Those short four year took the lives of thousands soldiers and destroyed many infrastructures of America. The war, however, was more than a battle between Lincoln and Davis, North and South, slavery and freeman. The Civil War was a war of ideals. The accounts told by the soldiers shown that, although the two sides did not agree on most topics, the North and the South did held certain ideals. In The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, the eyes of James Longstreet and Joshua Chamberlain expresses the battle between the North and the South as an opportunity to show their major contributions, their loyalties to their troops, and their opinions of the war that shaped them.

In the era of The American Civil War their were many battles between the North and the South; also known as the Union and the Confederates. Although there were a lot of deaths in this war, The Battle of Gettysburg has been recorded to be one of the deadliest battles in history. The Killer Angels was written to be based on The Battle of Gettysburg; in which the author claimed that he wrote the story in a different angle than the way they teach it in “school”, the story was based on the perspective of the people themselves. (Killer Angels pg xiii) Although the soldiers had different motivational factors; I will go over the soldier’s reasons for fighting, the difference in the reasons that each side had, and the matter that enabled these men to fight in the face of death.

They believed that slavery could not co-exist in a country that was founded on the ideology of freedom. However, they eventually found themselves fighting to help free the slaves rather than fighting for each other. The Confederate Army was fighting to maintain its grip on slavery as it was ever so important to their economy and way of life. They depended on it so greatly that they would be willing to risk their lives on order to hold on to it.

Wars have been fought for many different reasons through the years, and that holds true for the American Civil War (1861-1865). In Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels, the reasons for fighting the war are brought about through the officers and soldiers at a famous battle site of the Civil War, Gettysburg. Gettysburg was one of the most documented battles of the whole war. It took place over a span of three days and can be viewed as a turning point from Confederate prominence to Confederate demise. As in any conflict, there are two sides to the story. The Union and the Confederacy each had their own views as to why they were fighting the war. Victors write the history so too often only the Union side is

The Battle of Gettysburg was amongst one the most important turning points during the Civil War. It was a three-day bloody battle between the Union and Confederate forces which would ultimately lead up to the victory of the Union. In The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara shows a depiction of the battle through the eyes of the officers and tries to give the reader a first-hand look into the daily struggles that they had to deal with when it came to distinguishing between what’s best for their men and chances of success in the battle. In the book, we are introduced with two important officers: Colonel Chamberlain of the Union force, and General Lee of the Confederate force. Throughout the book, we witness different leadership strategies and philosophies between both officers which ultimately serve as their road to success or failure in the battle. Focusing on General Lee’s philosophy on leadership, “To be a good soldier, you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.”, it reinforces the idea that in order to fully succeed at battle, you must set aside and sacrifice your sense of sympathy towards your soldiers as a way to avoid making emotional decisions.

The southern people had been so reliant on slaves for all their work that losing them would destroy their economy. While on the other hand the Northern people hadn’t really needed the use of slaves because the women usually did all the work which is why they opposed slavery. In the Killer Angels, Chamberlain is divided, he believes that blacks should be free but when he walks up to an injured black man he sees animal like characteristics in him. The North wanted to restore the Union because it was against the constitution for the south to succeed, But that didn't stop the South from wanting to become its own nation.These wants were why the Battle of Gettysburg was

He padded shoulders, noted faces. It was very quiet and dark down among the trees. Night was coming” ( pg 177) Here Chamberlain notes that many lives were taken during the battle. There was blood everywhere. The death to rose to fifteen thousand for both parties this day. There had never been a deadlier war. Chamberlain is feeling great grief. He could see the darkness around him, physically and mentally. The loss of all these men was being felt by someone. Them not going home for their kids. Their wives waiting for them at the dinner table. It created not only a space in homes and towns, but also in the armies. This makes both the Union and Confederacy vulnerable to each other. The Battle of Gettysburg created many gaps amongst families, national armies, and a country

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara, the author of The Killer Angels, was born on June 23, 1928 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was an author of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction. Although writing was his passion, Shaara was very athletically successful in high school, winning more awards than any other student in the history of the school for sports such as basketball, track and baseball. He acquired a skill in boxing, and of the 18 matches Shaara fought as a young man, he won 17. The one loss would serve as the basis for a later short story, "Come to My Party." After high school, he attended Rutgers University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1951. He later did some graduate work at Columbia University and the University of Vermont. It was during his college days that he realized his one goal was to become a writer, and he began to write short stories and sell them to magazines such as Playboy, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, The Saturday Evening Post, and many others. Prior to the Korean War, Shaara served as a paratrooper and was a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division, and he later served as a merchant seaman and a police officer. After working these various jobs, Shaara began to focus more on subjects related to writing, and later taught English, literature and creative writing at Florida State University in Tallahassee while continuing to write fiction on the side. His second novel, The Killer Angels, brought him

Before describing the main characters of the novel, I want to describe the tone, setting, and point of view of the novel in general so we can better understand the landscape at the time. The novel is written in an epic tone. The primary battle of Gettysburg takes place in a borough of Pennsylvania. The historical setting and the dramatic use of real historical characters set it apart from most fictional novels. In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania the two opposing forces face each other in an epic battle that would define the Civil War and American history. The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 and was the result of eleven Southern states (known as Confederates) electing to secede from the Union (Northern states). Part of the complexity in this story is that there are social and economic issues that are being resolved by individuals – such as classism and racism. The narrator sticks to a third-person, omniscient form of narration. The

Soldiers would write that “it is better to spend out all in defending our country than to be subjugated and have it taken away from us” (What They Fought For 1861-1865, p. 12). When these men wrote home, they never knew whether they would return or not, nor did they care so long as they knew the war was continuing. “The concepts of southern nationalism, liberty, self-government, resistance to tyranny, and other ideological purposes I quoted earlier all have a rather abstract quality. But for many confederate soldiers these abstractions took a concrete, visceral form: the defense of home and hearth against an invading enemy. This purpose in turn became transformed for many soldiers into hatred and a desire for revenge” (What They Fought For 1861-1865, p. 18). Fighting to save their home, property, and liberty could not have be a more powerful reason to fight. They knew if they allowed the Union to win, they would have to give up everything they spent so much time and effort into acquiring, not only in regard to land, but also referring to slaves. A lieutenant from Tennessee said it best when he stated, “the yankees are sacrificing their lives for nothing; we ours for home, country, and all That is dear and sacred… Every on seems to know that his life liberty and property are at stake, hence we never can be whipped” (What They Fought For1861-1865, p.18). It has become very evident throughout this book