Michael Shaara

Michael Shaara was an American novelist and short-story writer born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1928. The son of Italian immigrants, he graduated from Rutgers University and began publishing science-fiction stories during the 1950s before expanding into literary, sports and historical fiction. He later taught English, literature and creative writing at Florida State University while continuing to publish short stories and novels. His first novel, The Broken Place, follows a Korean War veteran who becomes a professional boxer.

Shaara is best known for The Killer Angels, a character-driven account of the Battle of Gettysburg that presents the conflict through Union and Confederate officers confronting questions of command, loyalty and sacrifice. Published in 1974, the novel won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and later became the basis of the film Gettysburg. Shaara also wrote The Herald, later published as The Noah Conspiracy, and the baseball novel For Love of the Game, which appeared after his death in 1988. His son, Jeff Shaara, subsequently extended the Civil War narrative with Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure.