Jeffrey Shaara | |
---|---|
Born | New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S. | February 21, 1952
Occupation | Novelist |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Florida State University |
Genre | Historical fiction |
Notable works | Gods and Generals , The Last Full Measure |
Relatives | Michael Shaara (father) |
Website | |
jeffshaara |
Jeffrey M. "Jeff" Shaara (born February 21, 1952) is an American novelist and the son of Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Shaara. [1]
Jeffrey Shaara was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. He graduated from Florida State University in 1974 with a degree in Criminology [2] and lives in Gettysburg. [3]
He wrote Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure , which are the prequel and sequel, respectively, to his father Michael's award-winning novel The Killer Angels . [4] Jeff followed his father's footsteps upon the latter's death, writing historical fiction and documenting the American wars and their most historically relevant characters. In total, Jeff has written fifteen New York Times bestselling novels. [5]
Jeff delivered the commencement speech at the University of Delaware's 2005 undergraduate ceremony. Jeff has deemed this "one of the most important moments in his life." [6]
He completed a trilogy in 2010 about World War II in the European and North African theaters. A fourth World War II novel, titled The Final Storm , covers the end of the war in the Pacific, and was released on May 17, 2011. [7]
Shaara received the W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction from the American Library Association in 2022 for The Eagle's Claw, [8] in 2018 for The Frozen Hours, [9] in 2005 for To The Last Man: A Novel of The First World War, [10] and in 1997 for Gods and Generals. [11] The American Library Association's Reference and Users Services Association recognized The Steel Wave as a 2009 Notable Book. [12]
He has also been awarded the Lincoln Forum's Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement, [13] New York Civil War Round Table's "Bell I. Wiley Awar, [14] and Florida State University's Artes Award as a Distinguished Alumnus. [15] In 2011, Shaara was inducted into the FSU College of Criminology Hall of Fame and awarded FSU's first annual Distinguished Writer's Award. [16]
In 2003, Warner Brothers made the major motion picture Gods and Generals , which was based on his book of the same title. [17]
The 20th Maine Infantry Regiment was a volunteer regiment of the United States Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), most famous for its defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1–3, 1863. The 133rd Engineer Battalion of the Maine Army National Guard and the United States Army today carries on the lineage and traditions of the 20th Maine.
Jeff Grubb is an author of novels, short stories, and comics, as well as a computer and role-playing game designer in the fantasy genre. Grubb worked on the Dragonlance campaign setting under Tracy Hickman, and the Forgotten Realms setting with Ed Greenwood. His written works include The Finder's Stone Trilogy, the Spelljammer and Jakandor campaign settings, and contributions to Dragonlance and the computer game Guild Wars Nightfall (2006).
Gods and Generals is a novel which serves as a prequel to Michael Shaara's 1974 Pulitzer Prize–winning work about the Battle of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels. Written by Jeffrey Shaara after his father Michael's death in 1988, the novel relates events from 1858 through 1863, during the American Civil War, ending just as the two armies march toward Gettysburg. Shaara also wrote The Last Full Measure, published in 2000, which follows the events presented in The Killer Angels.
The Last Full Measure is a novel by American author Jeffrey Shaara, published on May 2, 2000, by Ballantine Books. It is the sequel to The Killer Angels and Gods and Generals. Together, the three novels complete an American Civil War trilogy relating events from 1858 to 1865.
MacKinlay Kantor, born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several set during the American Civil War, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel, Andersonville. He also wrote the novel Gettysburg, set during the Civil War.
To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War (2004) is a historical novel written by Jeff Shaara about the experience of a number of combatants in World War I. The book became a national best seller and received praise from people such as General Tommy Franks.
Marie Jakober was a Canadian novelist.
Robert Jan Mrazek is an American author, filmmaker, and former politician. He served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing New York's 3rd congressional district on Long Island for most of the 1980s. Since leaving Congress, Mrazek has authored twelve books, earning the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction from the American Library Association, the Michael Shaara award for Civil War fiction, and Best Book from the Washington Post. He also wrote and co-directed the 2016 feature film The Congressman, which received the Breakout Achievement Award at the AARP's Film Awards in 2017.
Gods and Generals is a 2003 American epic war drama film written and directed by Ronald F. Maxwell. It is an adaptation of the 1996 novel of the same name by Jeffrey Shaara and prequel to Maxwell's 1993 film Gettysburg. Most of the film was personally financed by media mogul Ted Turner. The film follows the story of Stonewall Jackson from the beginning of the American Civil War to his death at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Howard Bahr is an American novelist, born in Meridian, Mississippi.
Thomas Davee Chamberlain was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War, the brother of Union general Joshua L. Chamberlain, the Colonel of the 20th Maine Infantry.
Donald McCaig was an American novelist, poet, essayist and sheepdog trainer.
The Steel Wave: A Novel of World War II is a historical novel written by Jeff Shaara about Operation Overlord. The book is the second book in a trilogy written by Shaara.
No Less Than Victory (2009) is the third novel of a trilogy by Jeff Shaara based on certain theaters of World War II. It was published on November 3, 2009.
The Final Storm (2011) is a historical novel by Jeff Shaara based on the Pacific Theater of World War II. It follows roughly chronologically after his European World War II trilogy ending with No Less Than Victory. It was published on May 17, 2011.
The Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction is an annual literary award awarded to the writer of a work of fiction related to the American Civil War. The award was started by Jeffrey ("Jeff") Shaara,, and named for his father, the writer of historical fiction Michael Shaara, (1928–1988), who won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for the 1974 novel of the American Civil War, The Killer Angels, about the Battle of Gettysburg, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and later made into the Ted Turner-produced movie in 1993, Gettysburg, by director Ronald Maxwell. The original novel and movie later became the inspiration for son Jeff's prequel Gods and Generals, (1996), and sequel The Last Full Measure, (1998), set of novels of which Gods and Generals was also made into a film in 2003 by Turner and Maxwell focusing on the earlier part of the war with Confederate General Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson. The younger Shaara has also since written several other novels and series of historical fiction about the American Revolutionary War, Mexican–American War, World War I and World War II. He later returned to the theme of the Civil War with a set of works focusing on the western theatre of the war,.
The W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction is awarded annually by the American Library Association for "the best fiction set in a period when the United States was at war." The award intends to recognize "the service of American veterans and military personnel."
Steven E. Woodworth is an American historian specializing in studies of the American Civil War. He has written numerous books concerning the Civil War, and as a professor has taught classes on the Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, and military history.
The Pacific War Trilogy is a three-volume history of the war in the Pacific, written by author and military historian Ian W. Toll. The series was published by W. W. Norton & Company. Toll is a graduate of St George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island. In 1989, he received an undergraduate degree in American history from Georgetown University; in 1995 he received a master's degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University.
William Young Boyd II was an American businessman, author and philanthropist.