In the summer of 1994, when I was ten years old, closing in on 11, I went to a now-defunct used-bookstore in Old Saybrook, CT, with my mom and little sister. My sister ran for the kids' books, my mom, to the romance novel section. I shyly approached the cashier and asked her if she would help me find a certain book. She didn't think they had it. But she thumbed the shelves, and there, at the very bottom, close to the floor, collecting dust, was a paperback copy of The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Probably selling for less than $5.
I had just seen the film "Gettysburg" in my fifth grade class the previous year, and something about that movie captured my attention. Other kids in my class hated it; I loved it. I wanted to get my hands on as much literature about the battle as I could. And during the credits of the film, the words "Based on the Pulitzer-prizewinning novel "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara" flashed across the screen, and I knew I had to read the book. The book that became my "gateway drug" to becoming a history freak.I read it. Then I read it again. And again. I wore out that copy. My mother found me another in a used bookstore. I wore out that copy. Now, seventeen years after I picked up that old paperback book in a used-bookstore, I have worn my way through four copies of The Killer Angels.
Why am I telling you all this? By way of explaining exactly why it is so difficult for me to write an unbiased review of it. How do I critically evaluate the book that made me the history geek I am today? I will give it my best shot, though. Bear with me.
The Killer Angels is historical fiction -- I use this term loosely -- about the battle of Gettysburg, July 1 - 3, 1863, as seen from the points of view of the men who were there, the leaders of the battle. Michael Shaara, the author, during his meticulous research, dug into the memoirs of such military greats as Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and John Buford (to name a few), to determine exactly what they were thinking at the time. What were the emotions as these men directed their troops into battle? What was Lee's motivation for Pickett's Charge? How did they, as individuals, view the opposing army, or the nigh-impossible tasks they faced? Shaara took their words, their writings, and wove them into his novel, to give the reader an insider's look at the battle. Years after reading the book, when I was 14, my grandparents took my sister and I to Pennsylvania to tour the battlefield at Gettysburg. Seeing the places I had imagined in my mind so many times was just astounding, and viewing the monuments to the many men who died there was a humbling and moving experience.
Shaara won the Pulitzer Prize for writing The Killer Angels in 1975. After his death in 1988, his son, Jeff Shaara, wrote a prequel (Gods and Generals) and a sequel (The Last Full Measure) to his father's work. I am currently embarking on Gods and Generals, which, thus far, I am disappointed in. But to compare the son's work to the father's is unfair, I guess. And I have to be honest: there is nothing that I can imagine taking the place of The Killer Angels in my mind.
If you are going to read one historical novel about the Civil War, make it this one.
Rating: An admittedly biased *****
How many times must one read a book to wear it out? Is that like "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie-roll center of a Tootsie Pop?"
ReplyDeleteI've never accomplished either of said feats.
Sam -- I don't know. I'd estimate that I've probably read it (wholly or in part) about 50 times in the last 17 years. Could be more, but probably isn't much less.
ReplyDeleteAlso, one night in middle school two friends and I decided to try the Tootsie Pop thing. We counted 669, but I think the acidity of your saliva would set the count off in either direction.