Rating: 
Summary: Berek Smith might wanna leave Japan
Review: Berek Smith is wrong. Anybody who cannot spell Chamberlain, has no right to criticize the book. This is a definative book that won a Pulitzer prize. Since Berek complains that the books is not historically accurate, he should read the side cover where it says "Fiction." Now let me share with you a quote of a famous General, a true expert in this field. "The best and most realistic historical novel about war I have ever read." - General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Berek states that position of the 20th Maine had no importance; however, ironically, he shows no evidence to support his claim. This book, however, admits that it is fiction on the cover. Berek pretends to be a historian in a futile attempt to destory a definative work of American Culture. Maybe, Berek should come over from Tokyo and see the real battle field for himself, before he makes any other presumptions. As I did you will learn many news perspectives of the battle on the tour. Read the book. See the battlefield. Don't read his review.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible, horrible, horrible
Review: This is one of the worst books that I have read. It's even worse than the movie "Gettysburg." Michael Shaara takes so much liberty in pasting characters onto the important figures in his book. If one who doesn't know too much about the battle and the generals (as persons), then one WILL come away with a greatly warped and false view of the battle, it's importance, and the relative importance of each of the generals and officers who actually fought the REAL battle (not some dramatized, sentimental, fictitious battle in the imagination of some dreamer). The worst thing about this book is that it SEEMS to be somewhat historical. But it's not. Nobody knows who gave the command for the charge of the 20'th Maine, but it wasn't Chamberlain. And, their position was hardly as important as the book made it seem. There were plenty of reinforcements from the V or VI corps lying around to plug up any break through in the Union lines. The important part of the battle was already over on the first day! The rest was almost needless and futile blood shed, on the part of the South (though I say it with the advantage of hindsight and knowledge of the Yankee army that Gen. Lee didn't have) ....
Rating:
Summary: Classic for the ages, with a spiral effect. 10 Stars!!!!
Review: This is the book you can't put down. This is the book that will start a chain reaction that will make you search out and read more books about the civil war. Because of this book, (true story), my bookself consists of over 20 civil war books and bio's, all read within the last 2 years, and the list still grows. I'm not a historian, and was a light reader, that all has apparently changed. The author's son , Jeff Sharra has continued the legacy that his father left with "Killer Angels", however, not much in any catagory of reading, compares with this book. Recommended to all, even to those who could care less about history or the civil war.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: This, with Cold Mountain, is the great civil war novel. Having read this and then visited Gettysburg this summer, I found that the battlefield was real and alive to me in a way none other has ever been. Shaara seems to have made very little up, and he is lucky in having such extraordinary characters to work with - Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Chamberlain, Hancock - these would have been famous men in any age and the way their lives and their armies collided outside a little Pennsylvania town and the tragedy that ensued is just brilliantly captured. The book works in so many ways - it is a thrilling war novel, readable by anyone, it is a gripping account of generalship, and a fine study of why some military actions succeed brilliantly (the charge at Little Round Top), while others fail disastrously (Pickett's Charge, Lee's march into the Union). Remember that as many American soldiers died in the three days fighting at Gettysburg than on the whole of the decade-long involvement in Vietnam. If I have any criticism of this book it is that that horror does not quite emerge - but it remains outstanding. p.s. Jeff Shaara's books are not nearly as good, unfortunately!
Rating: 
Summary: A great book and a great film
Review: This is a novel that I never would have expected to enjoy but I did. Shaara is a powerful writer in the sense that he effectively puts you inside the heads of the folks that made history at the battle of Gettysburg, especially Longstreet and Chamberlain. If you are interested in the Civil War but haven't done much reading on the subject this might be a good place to begin - the film, Gettysburg, that is based on this novel is also well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: The personalized account of the Battle of Gettysburg
Review: I am one of those people who read "The Killer Angels" after seeing the film "Gettysburg." Consequently the idea of telling the story of the Battle of Gettysburg by focusing on five participants--General John Buford and Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain for the Union, along with Generals Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet and Lewis Armistead for the Confederates--was not a new idea to me. Through the eyes of these five men the crucial points of the battle, stopping the Confederates from taking the high ground on July 1, stopping Hood's division from sweeping the Federal left flank on Little Round Top on July 2, and the high water mark of the Confederacy with Pickett's Charge on July 3, are crystallized as desperate actions agonized over by the leaders who have to make the crucial decisions. Even though these five men are battlefield commanders, they still manage to personalize the battle in which more Americans were killed than were lost in the entire Vietnam War. Shaara's son Jeff has published a Civil War prequel and sequel to his father's book, but those volumes cover more than a single battle and the focus on a limited number of characters does not work as well. Still, I appreciate that the rest of Chamberlain's story is developed, since it is the college professor from Maine who emerges from both "The Killer Angels" and the Ken Burns PBS documentary on "The Civil War" as the idealized citizen-soldier of the war. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of both this novel and its film, are that they make the defense of Little Round Top by the 20th Maine the high point of the Battle of Gettysburg rather than Pickett's Charge, and that it is the name of Armistead rather than Pickett that we will not forget from that most famous charge. "The Killer Angels" certainly deserves its reputation as the finest Civil War battle novel.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most beautiful books I've ever read.
Review: If I could convey, in a review, the heartbreaking beauty of this book, its grand sweep and lyrical elegance, I should be as good a writer as Michael Shaara, and I'm not. My favorite chapter describes the 20th Maine marching toward Gettysburg, and all the thoughts rolling through Joshua Chamberlain's mind as he walks. Incredibly beautiful. And I never read Armistead's description of his last meeting with Winfield Hancock without tears. There are few books that I think everyone, absolutely everyone, should read...but this is one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read
Review: Actually, I've been meaniing to review this book for quite some time. This is one of my favorite civil war books. Anyone who was totally confused by the lack of presence of Buford in the movie and who doesn't own the director's cut will find more of his actions in the book. Historically, it is fairly accurate. Of course, only diary excerpts and letters can recount the conversations, etc., and they are usually not exact, word-for-word retellings. Some of the conversations used in the book were taken from retellings by one of the participants. General Ewell and RE Lee, for instance. Others are completely created dialogue. It's impossible to know which if you are not a civil war expert, which I am not. The Killer Angels is a wonderful place to start.
Rating:
Summary: The Killer Angels
Review: This story is a fictional version of Gettysburg based on the writer's imagination of what critical characters would have thought and done during this battle. As the work is based on the writings and reports of the battle by its participants, it is easy to forget that large parts of the "Killer Angels" are untrue. Instead, as you read this story, you will be transported back to the fields of Gettysburg where, when you are done, you will remember the battle as if you were there yourself. "The Killer Angels" is especially good at showing the chaos of war and the impact and effect of individual solders on a battle fought by over 200,000 men. While both sides had its heros and villains, a few in particular stick out after reading this story. Burford, an unknown commander, seized the high ground on the first day of this battle. His men alone and unsure if aid would arrive, saved the best ground for the Union. Yet later General Sickles, a Union commander, abandoned a position on top of a hill, Little Roundtop, because for some strange reason he didn't like it. But for the actions of a little known Colonel named Chamberlain, the Union may have been flanked on the second day of the battle. Newly appointed General Meade, for that matter, incredibly wanted to abandon this beautiful position after the second day. Only when all of his commanders disagreed, in writing, would he agree to stay. Jeb Stuart, a calvary general, was missing during the critical first few days of battle. As such, the South did not know what forces they were facing, where they were, or where the best terrain was. Their earlier efforts were gravely hampered by this ignorance. Incredibly the author, deftly, attacks the legendary General Lee. Lee was warned, repeatedly, by Longstreet that they South could flank the Union. Lee refused, however, to alter his battle plans. Later Lee was warned not to have Pickett's men cross of a mile of land under the barrage of Union cannons and devastating rifle fire. He made his decision, put it in God's hands, and watched as an army, his army, was destroyed before his eyes. To his credit Lee does later admit his errors. In its 36th printing, this book has been popular since its release in 1968. If you have any interest in the Civil War or Military History, I think you will enjoy this novel as you witness human courage, loyality and honor under the most extreme circumstance possible, the fires of perhaps the most important battle in the Civil War.
Rating:
Summary: Great for a beginner Civil War buff
Review: Middle of last year I started reading Shelby Foote's Civil War trilogy (I have 400 pages left of Volume III). The only break away from the huge volumes has been The Killer Angels, and I read it right after I finished Foote's chapter on Gettysburg. Shaara's writing really brought the details of the battle to life as well as help me look inside the minds of several commanders on both sides of the fight.
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