« November, 2005 »
The Killer Angels 
by Michael Shaara (1996)
read: 13 November 2005
rating: [+]
category: non-fiction
Breck picked up The Killer Angels at the Antietam Gift Shop. It’s the story of Gettysburg, told first person through the eyes of Lee, Longstreet, Chamberlain, and others. Obviously, we don’t know exactly what Lee and Longstreet talked about at 12 AM the night before battle, but author Michael Sharra does a damn interesting job of recreating what those conversations might have been like. The book is historically accurate as far as the facts go, with the author filling in all the details from letters and records of the time, colored with his artistic license. More so than any other Civil War book I read, this one gives you a sense of just how bad Lee screwed up at Gettysburg. You get a sense of Lee’s desperation, that he knows the South can’t win a protracted war. You also get the sense that Lee and unreasonable expectations of success from their previous successes. The first person accounts of battle serve as a testament to the glory, and futility, of war. I find myself with a lot more respect for General Longstreet now too. I’m going to have to do some more research to determine if he really was as adamant in his opposition to the Gettysburg battle plan as this book makes him out to be.
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