Mass Market Paperback, 355 pages
English language
Published Feb. 9, 2003 by Ballantine Books.
This novel reveals more about the Battle of Gettysburg than any piece of learned nonfiction on the same subject. Michael Shaara's account of the three most important days of the Civil War features deft characterizations of all of the main actors, including Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Buford, and Hancock. The most inspiring figure in the book, however, is Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, whose 20th Maine regiment of volunteers held the Union's left flank on the second day of the battle. This unit's bravery at Little Round Top helped turned the tide of the war against the rebels. there are also plenty of maps, which convey a complete sense of what happened July 1-3, 1863.
The name of the spaceship in my first (circa 9th grade) novel was the Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. This story is offered to explain the fifth star.
Very engaging story and characters, scads of frustrating and shattering loss. I'm too far removed from a proper history of these events to know with certainty what would happen with each of the characters chosen to present the tale, so was able to experience the suspense as though it were all sprung from the mind of an inventive storyteller.
So many brilliant people with brilliant and not-s-brilliant plans. Everyone's honorable, all are brave, all above reproach in any way. But when it comes to the actual battle...
So frustrating.
Shaara just misses by failing to allow any of these 'characters' to have vices. At about the two-thirds point I was reminded of that applicant in the interview that says his flaw is "sometimes working too hard". Each character has some humanizing flaw that we subliminally honor. Cares too much for his troops. Too honest. Too much respect for the enemy. …
Very engaging story and characters, scads of frustrating and shattering loss. I'm too far removed from a proper history of these events to know with certainty what would happen with each of the characters chosen to present the tale, so was able to experience the suspense as though it were all sprung from the mind of an inventive storyteller.
So many brilliant people with brilliant and not-s-brilliant plans. Everyone's honorable, all are brave, all above reproach in any way. But when it comes to the actual battle...
So frustrating.
Shaara just misses by failing to allow any of these 'characters' to have vices. At about the two-thirds point I was reminded of that applicant in the interview that says his flaw is "sometimes working too hard". Each character has some humanizing flaw that we subliminally honor. Cares too much for his troops. Too honest. Too much respect for the enemy. Shaara hits pretty hard on the Angel part of the title.
I loved it, though. Good complement to Malanoski's And The War Came.
