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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
In his introduction to Gettysburg, Michael Shaara says that reading history wasn't enough, but that "in order to live it he had to write it." In that, Shaara does an excellent job of bringing the Battle of Gettysburg to life. He brings us through the battle with the likes of Generals Longstreet, Lee, Pickett, and Armistead on the Confederate side, and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and his brother Tom for the Union. Having just finished Stephen Sears book on Gettysburg, this book took some of the events to a more human level for me. While not comprehensive in scope, the book gives insight into the first contact between the armies on Day 1, the defense of Little Round Top on Day 2, and Pickett's Charge on Day 3.
The film Gettysburg (1993) follows this book very closely. I would almost say that if you have seen the movie, you have read the book, and vice versa. The major differences is that the movie contains bad beards, a smaller feel, bad expository dialog, and an expanded role for spy/actor Beau Harrison.
It's a good book. Check it out.
The film Gettysburg (1993) follows this book very closely. I would almost say that if you have seen the movie, you have read the book, and vice versa. The major differences is that the movie contains bad beards, a smaller feel, bad expository dialog, and an expanded role for spy/actor Beau Harrison.
It's a good book. Check it out.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Interesting to compare to the Starbucks series. Lots of characters and difficult to really keep them straight. Plus I don't remember much about the battle from school or visiting the nearby battleground. I think I should probably listen or read again. Enjoyable nonetheless
Human
While I found Gods and Generals more engaging, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. These Confederate soldiers were men of God doing what they thought they had to do for their home. It is a story of humans in an awful war.
While I found Gods and Generals more engaging, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. These Confederate soldiers were men of God doing what they thought they had to do for their home. It is a story of humans in an awful war.
Excellent reimagining of the four days at Gettysburg and the principal characters on both sides of the battle.
While "Killer Angels" has to wrestle with the obligation to accuracy that historical fiction/dramatizations often do, Shaara is able to bring incredible clarity and depth to some incredible moods and moments. The stand outs are:
1. An understated acknowledge of the death-drive in times of war. A few lines are given to the idea that few soldiers were willing to die for The Cause. Some soldiers were willing to die under the right mythic general. And some soldiers shared some variety nationalistic and honorific ideals. However, for reasons that are impossible to do anything but wildly speculate about, some soldiers were just eager and willing to die.
2. After the first skirmish, brutally nightmarish pictures are painted of wagons loaded with the pale severed limbs of wounded soldiers outside of the surgeons' tents. Horrific.
3. In war fiction of the gritty variety, the horrors of war are made evident. Soldiers talk wistfully about the lives and loved ones they've left behind, reminisce about the friends they have made and lost during the course of the war. These scenes always carry a tone of "What is the point of war, couldn't there have been another way?" This creates a brilliant contrast when, at the close of the 2nd day of the battle, one of the Union generals assigned a too difficult and under-supplied task, leads a successful bayonet charge and shatters a rebel assault. As he charges amongst his men downhill, his own friends and soldiers dying around him as he nearly trips over the dead and dying, a kind of joy slowly begins to manifest. In that fight, that general is exuberantly alive with the thrill and raw joy of victory. As people are dying around him, he's having war's closest approximation to fun.
1. An understated acknowledge of the death-drive in times of war. A few lines are given to the idea that few soldiers were willing to die for The Cause. Some soldiers were willing to die under the right mythic general. And some soldiers shared some variety nationalistic and honorific ideals. However, for reasons that are impossible to do anything but wildly speculate about, some soldiers were just eager and willing to die.
2. After the first skirmish, brutally nightmarish pictures are painted of wagons loaded with the pale severed limbs of wounded soldiers outside of the surgeons' tents. Horrific.
3. In war fiction of the gritty variety, the horrors of war are made evident. Soldiers talk wistfully about the lives and loved ones they've left behind, reminisce about the friends they have made and lost during the course of the war. These scenes always carry a tone of "What is the point of war, couldn't there have been another way?" This creates a brilliant contrast when, at the close of the 2nd day of the battle, one of the Union generals assigned a too difficult and under-supplied task, leads a successful bayonet charge and shatters a rebel assault. As he charges amongst his men downhill, his own friends and soldiers dying around him as he nearly trips over the dead and dying, a kind of joy slowly begins to manifest. In that fight, that general is exuberantly alive with the thrill and raw joy of victory. As people are dying around him, he's having war's closest approximation to fun.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes