The Killer Angels By Michael Shaara

The first side that gets addressed is the Confederate side. While there are many different reasons that the soldiers fought in this civil war, the one of the main causes was for the use of slavery. Many soldiers had the mindset to fight for “a free white man’s government instead of living under a black republican government” (53). This will to uphold the racial inequality was seen in the way the South fought with passion and hatred against the change of their lives (19). Confederate soldiers were mostly bought into the war, due to the plantation owners sending someone else in their names. Soldiers

The killer angels is a world acclaimed novel that was written by an author known as Michael Shaara. In the year 1975, it was granted the Pulitzer Prize for creative writing. It gives us in details the occurrences of the four days in the Battle of Gettysburg. This was during the American Civil War that occurred in the year 1863. At this time, troops that comprised of both the Union and Confederacy were at war in town called Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. This is a piece of story that is driven by disposition and narrated from the point of view of various heroes (Hartwig, 1996).

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 brought the dueling North and South together to the small town of Gettysburg and on the threshold of splitting the Union. Gettysburg was as close as the United States got to Armageddon and The Killer Angels gives the full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped America’s future. Michael Shaara tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of the generals and men involved in the action of the battle. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg gives the reader a chance to experience the battle personally and not the history book manner taught in schools. A historical novel gives the facts straightforward and provides no commentary by the people involved in history. The

The Vietnam War in the late 1960’s was described as a tragedy, a victory, a win, and a loss, but for whom? The millions of people who loss their lives or the millions of people who fought to save others or is it for the millions of people who had to make that decision every time that they were in battle, but as for Richard Perry, a seventeen-year-old, African American just out of a Harlem High School, had to ask that question solely to himself. Perry, a talented and bright young man put away his dreams of college and becoming a writer because of the unfortunate circumstance he is in. He lives in poverty in the slums of Harlem. His single mother is abandoned by her husband and this leaves Perry and his younger brother Kenny without a father

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

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

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.

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.

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.

The book The Killer Angels was published in 1975 by the Ballatine Booksand was written by Michael Shaara. The Killer Angels is a historic novel about the time of the American Civil War, more specifically The Battle of Gettysburg. Shaara wrote this historical masterpiece with the sole purpose of letting the reader know exactly how the war was for the men actually putting their lives on the line to get this great country of America to the stature it is today. In order to accomplish his goal of creating the ultimate historic journal of The Battle of Gettysburg, he went straight to the source. He went back and retrieved letters and documents written by the men themselves, who were I the war. What better way to tell a story about one of the most significant battles of American history, then getting the information straight from the warriors who were fighting in the tranches? The book is written from the viewpoints of Robert Edward Lee, James Longstreet, and a couple of other men who were in the war. Robert E. Lee was fifty-seven at the time of the war. He was a highly respected general of the Confederate Army. He was an honest, God following man who had great morals which made a great leader (Killer Angles XVI). He didn’t drink or smoke and would stay away from reading novels and plays because he felt it would make him weak minded for battle (Killer Angles XVI). This is what made him such a great leader, the fact that he lead by example of how a true gentleman and general should

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.

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

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