Ballantine Books Acquires Civil War Trilogy from First-Time Novelist Jeff Shaara

Strategic Insights -

Jeff Shaara, the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara, has agreed to write a Civil War trilogy with Ballantine Books, a division of Random House Inc. The announcement was made by Clare Ferraro, Publisher of the Ballantine Publishing Group, who noted that Shaara's two novels, combined with his father's work, will become the consummate Civil War trilogy. Shaara's first book, GODS AND GENERALS, tells the story of four men: Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, and Union commanders Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Winfield Scott Hancock, from the days prior to the start of the Civil War through the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.

Key Takeaways:

  • Jeff Shaara, the son of Michael Shaara, has agreed to write a Civil War trilogy with Ballantine Books.
  • The trilogy will consist of Shaara's two novels and his father's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Killer Angels."
  • Shaara's first book, GODS AND GENERALS, will be published in hardcover on July 4, 1996, in conjunction with the annual reenactment at the Gettysburg battlefields.
  • "The Killer Angels" has sold more than two million copies and was selected by the Associated Press as one of the top ten historical novels of all time.
  • General H. Norman Schwarzkopf has called "The Killer Angels" "the best and most realistic historical novel about war I have ever read."
  • Shaara's next novel will begin immediately after Gettysburg and end with the conclusion of the war.
  • Jeff Shaara was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, before graduating from Florida State University in 1973 with a degree in criminology.

Statistics:

  • More than 2 million copies of "The Killer Angels" have been sold.
  • "The Killer Angels" was selected by the Associated Press as one of the top ten historical novels of all time.
  • Shaara's next novel will cover the period from Gettysburg to the conclusion of the Civil War.

Sources:

  • PRNewswire, "Ballantine Books Announces Acquisition of Civil War Trilogy" (Nov. 27, 1995)
  • Ballantine Books, announced their acquisition of world hardcover and paperback rights to Jeff Shaara's two novels.
  • Clare Ferraro, Publisher of the Ballantine Publishing Group, as quoted in the press release.
  • Jeff Shaara, as quoted in the press release.
  • Associated Press, "Top Ten Historical Novels of All Time" (no date provided).
  • General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, as quoted in the press release.