The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

There are works of historical fiction and then there is The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Perhaps no historical fiction novel is more admired than Shaara’s 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the battle of Gettysburg.

General Norman Schwarzkopf described The Killer Angels as "the best and most realistic historical novel about war that I have ever read." And Ken Burns is quoted on the book’s back cover, claiming that the novel, “changed [his] life.” James McPherson calls it his “favorite historical novel.”

It took Shaara seven years to write his masterpiece, mainly owing to the meticulous research he conducted to bring the famous battle to life. And that research was as impressive as anything undertaken by historians like Ron Chernow or Gordon Wood. Indeed, Shaara spent those years pouring over first-person accounts. Letters from soldiers, memoirs from veterans, even diary entries from civilians and participants; all were utilized by Shaara as he more-or-less invented the modern historical fiction genre.

Despite accolades and critical success, public acceptance of the book proved elusive. Written and published during the tail end of the American war in Vietnam, The Killer Angels met with a public suspicious of all things martial. It sold poorly and though it was widely admired by Civil War buffs and became required reading at West Point, it failed to spark the public’s imagination.

And then came Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, The Civil War. The film was a runaway hit, igniting a fresh fascination with the war and created a ready-made audience for a film adaption of the book, titled simply, Gettysburg.

Shaara’s novel became a smash-hit, having since sold over 3 million copies, the vast majority of which occured in the years since Burns’ film.

His son Jeff has taken up his father’s mantle, becoming a prolific and well-regarded writer of historical fiction in his own right (previous to this, I read Jeff Shaara’s Blaze of Glory about the battle of Shiloh and found it illuminating if a bit uneven.)

For myself, I really enjoyed the book. It gave me a much better understanding of the battle itself than I came away with having read the two single-volume histories of the war. Sure, those books covered the conflict, but there’s nothing like a 350-page novel about a single event to make you really get it.

General Longstreet came vividly to life for me, as his sober and loyal service to Lee set the stage for many of the Confederate Army’s most dramatic moments. I came to understand George Pickett as a swashbuckling buccaneer, brash and ready for glory. And it was hard not to admire Buford as he held the line, awaiting reinforcements from Reynolds.

Many of the book’s most memorable scenes came in the quiet moments between the fighting, as the soldiers, generals and aids anticipated what was to come.

But it was Joshua Chamberlain and his 20th Maine who really shined here. The chapters on his unit’s defense of Little Round Top were the book’s most heart-pounding, exhilarating, and moving moments. It’s no wonder that Little Round Top has become the battlefield’s most popular area for tourists.

The book impressed me enough to check out the film, and I found it to be a faithful, sometimes to a fault, adaptation of the novel. It also imbues some of Shaara’s most moving monologues with a syrupy score that makes the film feel far too melodramatic for modern sensibilities. Still, the movie contains scenes that are seared into my imagination now, and for better or worse, has become the way I envision the primary subjects in my mind’s eye (Longstreet will forever be Tom Berenger now, fake beard and all.)

This was a really great read, and it was not only entertaining, but I can honestly say it significantly added to my understanding and interest in the Battle of Gettysburg. Though I had visited the battlefield as a child with my grandparents, I very much would like to make the six-hour drive and see it again after experiencing Shaara’s brilliant, moving masterpiece.