The Killer Angels (1974) by Michael Shaara
此歷史小說在1975年獲得了普立茲小說獎。
故事背景設定於美國南北戰爭期間，主要圍繞在1863年6月30號蓋茨堡之役的四天裡，南北方從籌備到交戰的經過。
“Once Chamberlain had a speech memorized from Shakespeare and gave it proudly, the old man listening but not looking, and Chamberlain remembered it still: 'What a piece of work is man...in action how like an angel!' And the old man, grinning, had scratched his head and then said stiffly, 'Well, boy, if he's an angel, he's sure a murderin' angel.' And Chamberlain had gone on to school to make an oration on the subject: Man, the Killer Angel. And when the old man heard about it he was very proud, and Chamberlain felt very good remembering it. The old man was proud of his son, the colonel.“
- Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels
在Goodreads上很多人說他們在唸高中的時候學校都有派發這本小說給他們讀，看小說之前我不懂為什麼，看完我就懂了，連身為成年人的我都深受啟蒙！
The Killer Angels是屬於The Civil War Trilogy裡的第二部，可是我只有讀這一本。
我會說自己從來不是一個喜歡看歷史小說的人，當初找到這本書也是單純因為一種『不去讀看看又怎麼知道自己不喜歡』的心態而去讀的。讓我非常感激的是裡面在交戰過程當中會插入簡單易懂的戰略位置圖！（我忘記書裡的地圖是不是彩色的）
隨著戰局的改變，圖片會一直更新，讓我這個無論是對歷史還是戰略都很陌生的人來說真是幫大忙了。
坦白說，翻頭十頁的時候難免會覺得無聊，除非你是個很熟悉美國內戰歷史的人，不然剛開始的時候總會看得有點頭昏腦脹，裡面出現過的角色兩邊加起來共二十多個，需要點時間去慢慢認識他們，隨著對角色的認識愈來愈深，你會發現原來此書的寶藏就藏在那處！
這是一部非常宏大的小說，宏大不是指戰場有多廣，或者是設定有多大，而是作者想要經過角色的立場跟心態去跟讀者表達什麼，或者應該說，提出了什麼能讓你把小說看完後思考的諸多議題。
關於戰爭，我們現在從歷史書或網路可以輕易閱讀到許多的文章，基於當事人的行為、立場再加以評論，能夠評論的是因為我們身處於後代，所有歷史引發的結果都好好地記錄在案，就像一條滿佈分支的河流，我們可以從下游往上看，所以才能那麼客觀去評論喜好或對錯。
但是這部小說完全沒有這些東西。
有的只是每個人的立場，每個人的想法，每個人的理想，每個人的熱血，不偏不倚地呈現在你的眼前。小說裡並沒有任何多餘的調味料，也並沒有任何誘餌想要引導讀者去認為哪個角色是好人；哪個角色是壞人，角色只會活生生的站在讀者面前，跟讀者說出他們的心底話。
我很想抽出小說裡最喜歡的quotes跟大家分享，可是對我來說非常困難，我發現整本書的wording我都很喜歡。
“There ought to be more than just that metallic end, and then silence, then the worms, and sometimes he believed, but just this moment he did not believe at all...there was nothing beyond the sound of the guns...not even silence, just an end.”
- Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels
請相信我，it's more than just a historical novel, it changes the way you THINK.
（幹嘛突然說英文？）
話題扯開一點點，近年我其實對美國的戰爭電影很不感性趣...... 太多白人的英雄主義，主角威能，煽情做作到噁心的dialogues，平面的角色心理，幾乎每部戰爭電影都是如此。或許這也是當初我對美國作者寫的歷史小說沒有什麼信心的理由吧。
（喂人家是在1974寫的你至少也找部差不多年代的電影來講啊）
這本小說我是在上年7月看的，基於我個人大腦構造問題，有一些情節我已經有點忘記了。全書345頁，不確定有沒有中譯本（不過這麼經典的小說沒有中譯本才是奇跡吧）←（就算有中譯本香港也未必買得到啊）←（香港書店在賣的書種類確實是非常少！）
可以不要莫名其妙地開始自言自語嗎？
書裡我最喜歡的角色之一－－James Longstreet。
戰爭結束後馬上胖了一整圈！！！（好想捏他的臉喔哈哈）
當然書裡的人格塑造跟現實的一定會有落差，這我很清楚。我喜歡他並不是因為我支持邦聯，也不是因為書裡把他說成怎樣，只是事後閱讀更多延伸資料，單純的覺得他也是一個honorable man。
他的後世在某個角度來說也是「滿精彩」的，不過資料量太多恕我無法一一給大家整理。
（畢竟這次是我第一次寫書評實在有點累人，記憶力很差都要一直找參考資源）
在文章的結末，來貼一下另一段我很鐘愛的quote。
“The faith itself was simple; he believed in the dignity of man. His ancestors were Huguenots, refugees of a chained and bloody Europe. He had learned their stories in the cradle. He had grown up believing in America and the individual and it was a stronger faith than his faith in God. This was the land where no man had to bow. In this place at last a man could stand up free of the past, free of tradition and blood ties and the curse of royalty and become what he wished to become. This was the first place on earth where the man mattered more than the state. True freedom had begun here and it would spread eventually over all the earth. But it had begun HERE. The fact of slavery upon this incredibly beautiful new clean earth was appalling, but more even than that was the horror of old Europe, the curse of nobility, which the South was transplanting to new soil. They were forming a new aristocracy, a new breed of glittering men, and Chamberlain had come to crush it. But he was fighting for the dignity of man and i that way he was fighting for himself. If men were equal in America, all the former Poles and English and Czechs and blacks, then they were equal everywhere, and there was really no such thing as foreigner; there were only free men and slaves. And so it was not even patriotism but a new faith. The Frenchman may fight for France, but the American fights for mankind, for freedom; for the people, not the land.”
- Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels
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