The] novel received very little attention, and mixed reviews, thus it was a shock to both Michael and the literary community when the announcement was made that The Killer Angels had been awarded the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction" (Jeff Shaara). One of Hancock’s officers, Union Captain Henry Bingham, “attended to the fallen Armistead on Cemetery Ridge. Shaara also takes us into the minds of Union men like General John Buford who arrived at Gettysburg and realized the importance of deploying troops on the high ground against a superior Confederate force. One of them slipped in the mud and was told that since the general decreed the roads to be in good condition therefore there is no mud.

The Killer Angels begins on the eve of the Civil War battle of Gettysburg, and takes us through each of the three bloody days as the Union and Confederacy clashed in the fields and hills around a small Pennsylvania crossroads village. Gods and Generals traces the lives, passions, and careers of the great military leaders—Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Winfield Scott Hancock, Joshua Chamberlain—from the gathering clouds of war.I will also review each book individually for its own specifics, but will borrow a bit from this one for the themes that carry through.

The Firefly science fiction television series was developed by Joss Whedon after reading The Killer Angels. Imagine my surprise when my kids are discussing the virtues of Team Chamberlain (smart, honorable, thoughtful, a natural leader) VS Team Longstreet (Brilliant, ahead of his time, brooding, quiet). It is no exaggeration to claim that the experience of immersing oneself into this book will give any curious reader inspiration to want to know more about the Civil War.Alas, Ken Burns got to me first and his more expansive description of the war and the causes thereof keep him firmly dug in at the top of the charts. The maps were very helpful as I tried to visualize the action, but they were less helpful when I couldn't remember which names were Union and which were Confederate. While effective, it is worth noting that Shaara’s concept of these men is not necessarily shared by all historians. It is worth thinking about how such studies differ in intent and content from the novelistic portrayal of the Battle of Gettysburg in "The Killer Angels.