The Killer Angels

Main Review:

It’s fitting that a book entitled The Killer Angels effectively came to me via divine intervention. Having finished The Women of Troy whilst away on holiday; I found myself rummaging through the dozen or so books left on the bookshelves in the villa to find my next read. To say that the collection was eclectic is an understatement, a hodgepodge collection of books brought by travellers the world over but never taken away again. There were books of poetry, science and even a book about ‘Wild Women archetypes’. As a fledging American Civil War enthusiast however; the book that stood out was Michael Shaara’s ‘applied history’ account of the Battle of Gettysburg.

I went in apprehensive, remembering just how disappointed I’d been the last time I’d read a book set in the American Civil War. My concern started to subside as I worked through the cover and the first few pages of the book, which are festooned with piles and piles of praise that have been heaped onto the book from various sources.

Once the book stops telling you how great it’s going to be, it offers a brief list of the main military figures from both sides of the battle. It’s an incredibly handy resource for those like me who dip into the era only periodically. Informative yet succinct, it also gives you a handy idea of what Shaara’s writing style is going to be like throughout. Everything he writes feels like it has been typed out on a typewriter, there’s a real staccato rhythm to the whole thing.

All of the characters feel very distinctive and yet in keeping with the era. A lot of the dialogue is written as it would be pronounced, which makes it much more characterful and evocative. For a book about one of the bloodiest battles ever fought, there’s a lot of time for quiet introspection; for ruminating on lost friendships or the point of all the fighting. By the end of the third or so chapter I’d already taken a number of the main characters to heart in a way I hadn’t expected; especially as they are real people rather than fictional characters that have been inserted in to the narrative.

There’s a frenetic energy to the battle sequences that perfectly captures the chaos and confusion of the battlefield. The violence is notable, but never overly gratuitous or fetishized. Shaara works hard to capture the sights, sounds and smells of the battle, seamlessly combining this assault on the senses to bring the events of the story to life. The bouncing between Yankee and Confederate main characters also works well to play on the confusion between the armies. Another element I particularly loved were the frequent maps showing the relative positions of the armies throughout each of the days; helping to keep myself navigated in what was going on throughout the carnage.

It’s very easy to lose yourself in the events being depicted, and before you know it you’ll be halfway through the book without any conscious effort. Another thing I particularly enjoyed with Shaara’s approach was that it lets the events shine through without overly focussing on the gritty minutiae. Often historical fiction (especially military stories) throws the names of specific weapons and equipment around with an expectant air that the reader will know the difference between a LA85d Assault Rifle and a R2-D2 rifle and knowingly nod along with the author. Shaara’s approach, by comparison, is much more character focussed, and much more engaging as a result.

Although rarely explicitly mentioned, the menace of slavery lurks throughout the book as the eternal ‘elephant in the room’. I was glad to see that even the Confederate generals like Lee and Longstreet tacitly accept that slavery is the fundamental issue around which the war revolves. They might be fighting for their personal honour or their sense of duty, but the Confederacy as a whole is fighting for the continuation of slavery; and there is no way to avoid that fact. That’s not to say that the issue is entirely black and white however; and the book certainly doesn’t depict a noble and enlightened Union honourably fighting against a villainous; backwards Confederacy. There is a scene in the Union camp where a wounded black man is brought in needing urgent medical care. As the (white) Yankee officer looks at the escaped slave, the descriptions are more than a little skewed and orientalist; with a lot of animalistic similes and metaphors suggesting a certain level of internalised racism.

I greatly enjoyed The Killer Angels, and aside from a fair few typos dotted throughout (which could have just been an issue with the copy I found) I don’t have much to criticise. It revitalised the embers of my interest in the period and I have been happily informed that both a sequel and a prequel exist; which I’ll be keeping an eye out for these in the coming months. It’s characterful, it’s evocative and it’s educational, and I would heartily recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the era. Finding a copy on a random bookshelf in Italy is entirely optional though.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go and stare longingly at some tiny toy American Civil War soldiers that I definitely do not need, but absolutely want.

Until the next time – Happy Reading!