Michael Shaara The Killer Angels Sparknotes

The Killer Angels is a historical fiction novel which describes the events that happened during the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Michael Shaara, the author, wrote pulp science fiction stories and straight fiction for various magazines. Shaara wrote The Killer Angels after a family trip to Gettysburg inspired him to research and write the novel over 7 years, which was published in 1974; He died in 1988 from a heart attack.

The Killer Angels begins on June 29, 1863 as the Army of Northern Virginia has invaded the Union in attempt to inflict a devastating defeat to the Union Army. The Confederate Army is notified by a spy that found the Union Army’s position is just to the south of Gettysburg. General Lee decides to concentrate

General Lee and General Longstreet debate the Lee’s plan to hit the Union’s center; Ultimately, Longstreet reluctantly agrees to attack the Union Center with General Pickett to lead the assault. The Confederate artillery pound the Union line in attempt to weaken, but are rather ineffective. Pickett leads the Confederate assault on the heavily defended Union line. Pickett’s Charge manages to momentarily breaks the Union line, but the assault fails as the Union line is reinforced and breaks the Confederate attack; Pickett loses over half his division in the attack. The Confederates, tired and beaten, retreat bringing the 3 - day Battle of Gettysburg to a

Shaara’s inspiration to use this model came from Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, which Crane wanted to know what it was like to be there. Shaara’s use of the multiple viewpoints allows him to create multiple important characters, which can each push the different themes throughout the novel. Also the various viewpoints enabled the development of focused points of micro conflict, such as Armistead’s perspective of Pickett’s Charge and Chamberlain’s last resort bayonet charge. Yet, it also a more generalized macro perspective from Lee’s overall command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Shaara supports his main point of experiencing the battle through the eyes by using the primarily words of the men themselves. He uses the letters and other documents, not historical opinions of scholars. It is the letters of the generals and soldiers that is Shaara’s most important evidence. While the author does not present the evidence in the letter format he found them in, he does present the evidence in a theatric epic of