Michael Shaara The Killer Angels Essay

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The Killer Angles by Michael Shaara Book Review The Pulitzer Prize winning fiction novel The Killer Angles by Michael Shaara is revered to be one of the best civil war novels written to date. Shaara was born in 1928 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Shortly after graduating from Rutgers University he went on to publish many award winning science fiction short stories in magazines such as Playboy, Redbook, and Cosmopolitan. After visiting the battlefield at Gettysburg with his family, Shaara became obsessed with the idea of telling the story of the bloodiest three days in American history through the eyes of the soldiers themselves. Shaara wanted to write a book focusing on the men involved in the Civil War instead of the war itself. He wanted to …show more content…

The north in contrast has suffered from lack of leadership and military success, but the Battle of Gettysburg would be the turning point and would end with southern forces being forced to retreat. The book is first broken into four days, June 29, 1863, just before the battle began; July 1, 1863, the day of the initial Confederate attack; July 2, 1863, the first full day of battle; and July 3, 1863, the final day of battle. Each of these four sections are broken down into chapters with each chapter written by a different viewpoint of key leaders, in this review I will focus on General Robert E. Lee of the confederate army and Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain of the union …show more content…

Chamberlain of the union army was very well educated and respected, he was once a professor of rhetoric at Bowdoin University and the Governor of Maine. After commissioning the 20th regiment of infantry Chamberlain is quickly met with mutiny in which a group of 120 men decided that they no longer felt loyalty to the Union Army. Through a moving speech Chamberlain successfully motivates and inspires all but six men to join his regiment and ride south to Gettysburg. By focusing on these key leaders Shaara gives a behind the scenes look at both the Union and Confederate army’s, showing the humanity behind leadership and how both Lee and Chamberlain lead their men through inspiration rather than

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