A Killer Angels Companion [Paperback]

D. Scott Hartwig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996 | ISBN-10: 0939631954 | ISBN-13: 978-0939631957

The popularity of Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels, is legendary. There are currently six million copies in print. But how faithful to the truth was this novelist's view of the Battle of Gettysburg and its key figures? What happened to the major characters after Gettysburg? After 20 years as historian at Gettysburg National Military Park, few know the battle or battlefield better than Scott Hartwig. In this informative book, he answers these questions and more. if you have ever read and loved The Killer Angels, than this book will be a wonderful and welcome read.

Product Details

• Paperback: 60 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Pubns (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939631954
• ISBN-13: 978-0939631957
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,177,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Adequate, But Nothing Essential, November 8, 1999

By 

"falcon92" - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Killer Angels Companion (Paperback)

This book left me rather confused. Scott's premise was well-founded, and I got the sense that he genuinely respected the Killer Angels. However, while Scott made some valid historical points, some of those points seem overly pessimistic. Scott correctly points out that Longstreet is a hero of Shaara's book, and historians have long debated Longstreet's actions at the battle. On the other hand, Scott seems to dwell too much on the fact that Shaara uses the term "dug in" to describe Buford's cavalry. Scott seems to feel that the reader will view cavalry tactics incorrectly as a result of reading the Killer Angels. Scott also points out that Col. Vincent and others who valiantly fought at Little Round Top were not given their due in the book. While it is true that Shaara did not dwell on Vincent, or Meade for that matter, the book was not about them, nor really the Battle of Gettysburg. It was about the Battle from the eyes of it's participants (Lee, Longstreet, Chamberlain, et al.). Clearly, historical fact in not mentioning Meade or Vincent is not altered. The second half of the book details the biographies of the principals. We are to assume that Shaara has gotten it pretty much right, with the exception of Buford. Scott makes no other mention of Shaara in any other character biography.

In summary, I think that Hartwig understands, but doesn't accurately convey that the true gift of the Killer Angels is the novel's ability to excite the reader about the Civil War. He gets lost in the historian's periscope. From this basis, people can then go to Gettysburg, and read about Gettysburg, and learn about other important Americans such as Vincent, Meade, Reynolds, Gibbon, etc. If all people know about Gettysburg is what they learned in the Killer Angels, then they are light years ahead in fact and knowelge than most Americans.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not What I really Expected, August 1, 2001

By 

Clark Goldband (Morristown, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Killer Angels Companion (Paperback)

I was excited when I bought this book as I loved the Killer Angels, but after buying this book during a recent visit to Gettysburg I was a bit disapointed. Hartwig does not really say what is accurate in the novel, instead he argues against what Shaara writes. He focuses on Lee, Chamberlain, Buford, Longstreet, and a bit on Pickett and Armisted but virtually ignores the other characters in the novel. Tom Chamberlain, Ellis Spear, Kilrain, Trimble, Pettigrew, Kemper, Garnett, and Harrison. I was personally more interested in these minor characters than in the ones that I already knew about, and this nook did not expand my knowledge of them. To me, this book was ok but not really what I expected.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Historian's Critical Eye, April 21, 2003

By 

Bruce Rice (Carlisle, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Killer Angels Companion (Paperback)

As a long time resident of South Central PA, I have visited Gettysburg dozens of times, have read 'The Killer Angels', seen the movie, read the Companion and have had the privilege to attend talks and tours given by Scott Hartwig.

Both in his talks and in the forward to 'Companion', Hartwig is genuinely complimentary of Shaara's work. But within his text, Hartwig's tenor seems to take a lawyer-like argumentative turn. I do not believe that he does so out of any malicious intent to undermine Shaara's fine work. Instead, I believe that Hartwig is attempting -as advertised- to create a clear deliniation between fact and fiction. Perhaps he could have reinforced his stated respect for Shaara the novelist throughout the 'Companion' but ultimately, Hartwig's loyalties are with historical fact. To that end he is quite successful. That in remaining faithful to fact, he has unintentionally stepped on toes is unfortunate because I truly believe that Hartwig does indeed hold Shaara in very high regard.

A very good companion.