Paul-+The+Killer+Angels

"Never let them see you run" - Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels
 * __The Killer Angels__** By: Michael Shaara

Shaara was born in 1928 in Jersey City. He had a wife named Helan and one son named Jeff. However Michael Sharra wasn't known for his childhood or family life, he was known for his books. When he graduated from Rutgers University as a teacher he knew his one dream was to write. In his early career as a writer he wrote many short storys for magazines by night and taught by day. Two of his stories were even made into movies! Sharra's first novel was [|The Broken Place]. It was the story of a soldier returning from the Koreon War. Many critics admired the style Sharra incorperated into the book however it never sold well. The public just weren't interested in his novels. However he continued to write after the down fall of his first novel.
 * The Author: Michael Shaara [[image:Shaara.jpg align="right" caption="Michael Shaara" link="http://http//www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/0/3253.jpg"]]**

Shaara's inspiration for his second novel came from a trip he and his family took to Gettysburg. He became obsessed, trying to recreate the battle in the eyes of the soldiers who fought there. He spent seven years compiling letters and data for his novel. In the end he had created the four days of the Battle at Gettysburg. All Shaara's hard work didn't seem to do much good for him though, he had a heart attack at age 36, his first fifteen publishers rejected him, and he received lots of mixed reviews on his work. However in 1975 his book, [|The Killer Angels]would win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction to the surprise of many and the delight of Shaara. His delight would be short lived however. Like his first novel __The Killer Angels__ failed to gain public appeal. Michael Shaara would continue to make novels however none of them would have the same quality of his first two. He would die May 5, 1988 from a heart attack seven years after publishing his last novel [|The Herald].

In death Michael Shaara would become famous. Five years after his death the film Gettysburg would sweep the nation. Shaara's novel __The Killer Angels__ would be dusted off and became a must read. Shaara's son Jeff also would build on his father's success in death. Jeff Shaara would turn in the manuscript for Shaara's old baseball novel to the New York publishing comunity. Titled [|For Love of the Game]the novel would be turned into a major [|moition picture] in 1999. [|Jeff Shaara] would also create two civil war novels built around his fathers work. Now Michael Shaara's book lives on in a [|The Civil War Trilogy] along with his son's work.

The main idea behind __The Killer Angels__ was to create a novel that explained the events that marked the turning point of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, in the eyes of the commanders. Before I read this book I thought it would be all about the glory of the Civil War, a book that would show what happened during the Battle of Gettysburg like any old American history book. I couldn't have been more wrong. This book is not about the Civil War at all, it is about the people who were in it. [|Robert Edward Lee], [|James Longstreet], [|George Pickett], [|Ricard Ewell], [|Ambrose Powell Hill], [|Lewis Armistead], [|J. E. B. Stuart], [|Jubal Early], [|Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain], [|John Buford], [|John Reynolds], [|George Gordon Meade], and [|Winfield Scott Hancock], real men from both sides of the Civil War are portrayed in this novel not glorified for their actions like in history books, but as regular soldiers on the field of battle wondering how they can win the war and get them and their men back home in one piece. These men were changed forever by the events that unfolded at Gettysburg, and __The Killer Angels__ shows not only their actions during the Battle of Gettysburg, but also their internal conflicts.
 * Plot Synopsis: Four Days of Gettysburg with the Commanders **[[image:Commanders.JPG caption="Commanders at Gettysburg"]]


 * Criticism: The Good and Bad**

First off, __The Killer Angels__ is an extrodinary book because of how it blends history into a story. All the events and characters you read are real. That said, you should know that this book moves at a pretty slow pace. In order to truly enjoy this book you have to want to learn what happened at Gettysburg, if you are not interested at all about the turning point of the Civil War I would reconsider reading __The Killer Angels__. Also the way that the story is told is very interesting. Interesting because every single chapter is told from a different persons perspective. In one chapter you will be following Robert E. Lee as he plans his attack on the Union troops posted in Gettysburg while in the next chapter you will be on the receiving end of that attack. While I love this literary style of writing I have to admit that switching sides in chapters did get a little confusing. You have to memorize which commanders belong to the Union or Confederacy or face total confusion which means rereading the entire chapter again. Those who can get past the slow moving story in __The Killer Angels__ will enjoy an interesting version of the events at Gettysburg that you can't experience from history books.


 * Other Great Books**

__The Broken Place__ by Michael Shaara __For Love of the Game__ by Michael Sharra __The Herald__ by Micahael Shaara __The Civil War Trilogy__ by Michael and Jeff Shaara Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee


 * Works Cited**

Jeff Shaara, "Michael Shaara" __Jeff Shaara__. 2008. Mar. 15, 2009 <[]> Sharra, Michael. __The Killer Angels.__ New York: David McKay Company Inc., 1974.