The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the American Civil War. The Army of the Confederacy had fought well into Union territory and encamped outside the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle lasted three days, and the advantage swung wildly between the two sides. When it ended, both sides experienced tens of thousands of casualties. The Confederate army suffered historic losses and limped back toward Virginia, never to recover.

Michael Shaara's 1974 novel "The Killer Angels," tells the story of this battle from the point of view of those who lived it - Generals Lee, Longstreet, and Stuart from the South and Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Gen. John Buford from the North.

Shaara based his fictionalized account on the history of the battle and the people who impacted it. Although the thoughts of each character are often invented, the author based them on his years of research through letters, journals, and historical records.

Confederate Generals made strategic blunders severe enough that some considered court-martial for them. Union commanders struggled to keep their recruits motivated. Soldiers showed bravery despite enormous casualties.

When Chamberlain held off the Confederate attack on the second day, it proved a critical moment that turned the tide of battle and, ultimately, the war.

Shaara's descriptions of the carnage of battle are moving and disturbing. His look inside the minds of those who participated is plausible. The author succeeds in recounting history but also in making that history personal. For example, the broken friendship between Generals Armistead and Hancock, who served on opposite sides, brings to light one of the personal costs of this war.

"The Killer Angels" is an important novel that shows the horrors of war in general and the Civil War in particular.