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kangels4ever
08-06-2011, 08:56 PM
Anyone else here a fan of Micheal Shaara's The Killer Angels? It is my most favorite book of all time, one that swayed me from becoming just another history student to a history student and historical storyteller.

While it's true Mike wrote only this one historical novel, concentrating on literary and science fiction in works like The Broken Place or The Noah Conspiracy, he's a "hero of historical fiction" in my view because when he brought the battle of Gettysburg to life in the pages of Angels he did it not like it was a clone of Gone With The Wind, but veered away from romanticization of the war and, instead, dwelled on the "brother against brother" aspect of the conflict in a way few have equaled.
He was also boldly different by having all but one of the cast -a supporting character in Joshua Chamberlian's 20th Maine regiment named Kilrain- be historical figures, not fictional cut-and-paste cutouts.

In sum, it is a timeless masterpiece.