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knightofswords 's review for:
The Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
Pretty good in terms of providing a picture of a chaotic battle and commanders trying to make sense of it, and does an admirable job of describing the psychology and motivations of the men who led the armies that fought.
I'm going to ding it a little bit for some bad history and flirting with Lost Cause BS- for example, the book opens by mentioning that General Lee "didn't own slaves and abhorred slavery but was fighting for his home" (not a direct quote, but you get the idea - fairly standard Lost Cause messaging) - despite the fact that the Lee/Custus family were vicious slavers, who caused a scandal in Virginia by breaking up enslaved families and beating his slaves regularly. Other Confederate characters trot out the "muh states right" crap regularly, which, nope.
Overall though, well written and an admirable attempt to bring to life a battle that's usually seen as just arrows and lines on a map.
I'm going to ding it a little bit for some bad history and flirting with Lost Cause BS- for example, the book opens by mentioning that General Lee "didn't own slaves and abhorred slavery but was fighting for his home" (not a direct quote, but you get the idea - fairly standard Lost Cause messaging) - despite the fact that the Lee/Custus family were vicious slavers, who caused a scandal in Virginia by breaking up enslaved families and beating his slaves regularly. Other Confederate characters trot out the "muh states right" crap regularly, which, nope.
Overall though, well written and an admirable attempt to bring to life a battle that's usually seen as just arrows and lines on a map.