Such beautiful desperation.
Killer Angels is a fictional retelling of the Battle of Gettysburg, seen from both sides of the line. These are men frustrated and driven to distraction by the futility of being forced to kill their brothers.
Lee flounders after the loss of his right-hand man, Stonewall Jackson, and is blinded by the incompetence of the gloryhound J.E.B. Stuart. But it's Longstreet who's the tragedy of this tale -- a Southern general who's farsighted enough to see that he's sending "his boys" to their deaths in Pickett's disastrous charge, but helpless to do anything else because he must follow orders.
Chamberlain and the 20th Maine are the stars of the Union story, as the gentle professor shows that he was a formidable fighter and a born leader. These brave volunteers held the Union's left flank during the Battle of Little Round Top, desperate for aid or even a few supplies. It is in their story that you see the humanity, and the nightmare, of the war.
The simple, to-the-point writing style captured the spirit of these men for me, although I wonder how much of the interior dialogues and philosophy around the campfires were created in Michael Shaara's mind alone.
Sympathetic and careful, Killer Angels breathes life into historical figures without disrespecting their memories.
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