Jeff Shaara

Three generations at Gettysburg

  My husband loves Gettysburg!  And the Civil War - mostly the strategy of battle.
  In 2010, he went for his fourth visit to Gettysburg- this time with our son-in-law and grandson.  
  On this trip he was introduced to Michael Shaara's book "The Killer Angels".  The cover of that book says, "A novel about the four days of Gettysburg". That was an important moment for John.  He has always been interested in warfare, especially the Civil War. This book provided the opportunity of getting inside the heads of all those involved in the war.  The book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and was later made into the movie "Gettysburg".

   Unfortunately, Michael Shaara died and his special way of storytelling in the middle of battle was gone.  Then his son Jeff decided to try to continue his father's legacy.  And what a success!

  Twice I have surprised John with a gift of Jeff's books.  The first one was in 2015.  You can read about it here.  John enjoyed those books so much that I ordered more the next year.  Click here.
  Well, the first books were a gift for our 55th anniversary, so this year, for our 57th anniversary, I had a better idea.  We went to visit Jeff personally at his book-signing in Pookeepsie, New York- a two day drive that we made into a six day holiday.

  
 John was overwhelmed with emotion at seeing his favourite author up close and personal.  Jeff gave a great talk and signed many books.
  His wife was so friendly and gave us a great deal of attention.  She realized how important this visit was for John.

  
Note from John:
Occasionally, in life, we are privileged to have a 'mountain top experience'. This was an exceedingly great one for me!
Thank you, Jeff!