The Killer Angels (1974) is a historical novel by Michael Shaara that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975. The book tells the story of four days of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War: June 30, 1863, as the troops of both the Union and the Confederacy move into battle around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and July 1, July 2, and July 3, when the battle was fought. The story is character driven and told from the perspective of various protagonists. A film adaptation of the novel, titled Gettysburg, was released in 1993.
The Battle of Gettysburg served as a vital turning point of the American Civil War. Despite these catastrophic losses—the Union suffered 23,000 casualties; the South 28,000—the Union defended itself from the Confederate army pushing north toward Washington, D.C. The Gettysburg Battlefield explores the cultural, economical, and political causes of the bloodiest war the United States ever fought, putting the fight against slavery and secession into context for young readers through vivid photographs and illustrations, informative sidebars, and quotes from soldiers involved in the battle.
