The Killer Angels

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a mad thought that doesn’t last long) So the North was preserving the Union and freeing the slaves, but what exactly where the boys in butternut fighting for. The author was writing science fiction and straight fiction short stories for many major publications for years, supplementing his income teaching English Lit. Of course, I do not know his situation, and I do not want him to engage a superior force, but I do want him to take that hill, if he thinks practicable. Detailed specialized studies have been written on every aspect of the battle including Buford's role on the first day, Little Round Top on the second day, and Pickett's charge on the third day. I've come across the names in history classes (oh so long ago) and the occasional novel covering this period, but it was wonderful to have them brought to life as this author did, and we are once again reminded that was is indeed h***.

The text is divided in four parts, each one dealing with a specific day from June 29th to July 3rd 1863. This book is captivating and engages the reader immediately with every aspect of the famous Civil War battle that changed the course of American History. I hate the idea of causes,” Forster wrote, “And if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend I hope I should have the guts to betray my country. It is the same reason why I hear people who live below the poverty line saying they didn’t believe it was ‘rat that the government was taxing the one percenters more than the rest of us. A second stage adaptation by Brian Newell, The Killer Angels, Soldiers of Gettysburg, opened May 5, 2017 at the Maverick Theater in Fullerton California.Eventually promoted to the rank of brigadier general, Ulysses Grant chose Chamberlain to command the Union troops at the surrender ceremony. I was truly saddened by the incredible loss of life due to the mistakes of the priveleged few, the generals. In the book, when Stuart reports to Lee, Lee gives him a long harangue about how the cavalry is the eyes of the army. Side note: I have a few colleagues I’d be totally fine pointing the business end of my bayonet at, but it’s unlikely that I would actually be able to eviscerate them if it came to that, though I’d happily pour salt in their coffee.

His son, Jeff Shaara, has continued on the course his father charted, telling the stories behind the other great battles of the civil war, as well as going back in history further to create historical novels about the American Revolution and the Mexican-American war.

It has also appeared in this relatively new Modern Library edition to replace the old dog-eared paperback. I especially liked how he was able to use personal thoughts and feelings of the characters of the war. By the end of this book I felt I knew all these men as intimately as I know friends I’ve known for decades. He was taller than Lee, head like a boulder, full-bearded, long-haired, always a bit sloppy, gloomy, shocked his staff by going into battle once wearing carpet slippers. Burning the candle at both ends, teaching and writing, and in his own recollection consuming large quantities of cigarettes and coffee, he finished the novel seven years later.

Another moment of the novel that I found simply breath-stealing was the description of the battle of Little Round Top. Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of Maine is told by his superiors that he occupies the end of the Union line, and that he must hold at any cost.The last two sections are easily the most engaging, and once you get to that point in the book you will plow through it. Not according to ‘Armistead and Hancock–Rethinking the Storied Friendship Between Two Opposing Gettysburg Generals, an article at miltaryhistorynow. Their old company, the Second Maine was disbanded when the majority of the men had fulfilled their two-year commitment to the army. As the sword of Damocles is unsheathed, lives are held in the balance without regard for politics or affiliation. He is sent out against impossible armies who vastly outnumber him, and through sheer strategic genius, brings his Emperor a glorious victory.

Still, it bears mentioning, if only because this is a very good piece of historical fiction, and when historical fiction is really, really good, you sometimes start to forget it’s fiction and believe it's historical. He uses the alternating views from the officers of both sides of the conflict, thus making you feel as you are right with them, culminating in the horrific and tragic end of the battle. Shaara also takes us into the minds of Union men like General John Buford who arrived at Gettysburg and realized the importance of deploying troops on the high ground against a superior Confederate force. This is a truly humanistic view of our civil war, and Shaara did not drop the ball in re-telling it.Shaara puts the reader in Gettysburg, not only in the location but in the minds of the people who were there. Lee, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, Winfield Scott Hancock and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, with visits to other leaders. The other passage that really struck me was when Longstreet and Hood were saying goodbye to one another before a fight.