Michael Shaara's Killer Angels

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The book Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, illustrates the American Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg. This was a three-day battle in 1863. This book draws you in and really makes grasp what it was like to be a witness as well as apart of the Civil War. The battle was in no way humane. Shaara conveys the brutality of both views from the Confederates and the Union side, emphasizes humanity of army generals, and showed each side could not comprehend their opponents’ way of thinking.
Shaara reveals the war being painful by showing the agony many of the men witnessed. In the battle at Little Round Top with Chamberlain 20th Maine, he conveys the cruelty of the war, “He ran forward to a boulder, ducked, looked out: dead men, ten, fifteen, lumps …show more content…
Considering, when Chamberlain ponders on an occasion that a southerner was visiting his home, Chamberlain explains, “I don’t really understand it. Never have. The more I think on it, the more it horrifies me. How can they look in the eyes of a man and make a slave of him and then quote the Bible?” (Pg. 177). Then the professor showed Chamberlain, “…he could not apologize for his views, because they were honestly held…my young friend, what if it is you who are wrong?” (Pg. 177). This provides evidence that neither side was will to budge and that whether right or wrong, each side was secure in their way of thinking.
From everything in the book, the war is shown to not achieve a compromise, but that the war more importantly caused tragedy. The book, Killer Angels portrayed many unrevealed attributes about the Civil War. Some of these involve, the pain and suffering during the war, the empathy each army and the people in the army obtained, friendships being torn apart, and each side unwilling to see from the opponents’ point of view. This book revealed just how emotional and how much controversy there was, and would make you surprised how America was able to endure and get passed all of

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