The Killer Angels

New York: David McKay, (1974).

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Hardcover. Second edition. Fine in a partially spine-faded, near fine dustwrapper. Inscribed by the author on the front fly: "To Reg – Merry Christmas! Michael Shaara. Dec. 1974." With the bookplate of the recipient. Shaara was something of a difficult personality, and very seldom signed books. Because of the perfect binding, an ill-fated experiment by the publisher to lower production costs, this book is virtually always cocked, a flaw this copy does not exhibit. Basis for the movie *Gettysburg* and easily one of the very best and most beloved novels of the Civil War. It was also a surprise winner of the Pulitzer Prize. One of very few signed copies of this title that we've seen.

Item #284123

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Item #284123 The Killer Angels. Michael SHAARA.

Michael Shaara
birth name: Michael Shaara
born: 6/23/1929
died: 5/5/1988
nationality: USA

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Biography

American novelist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War novel The Killer Angels.more

Collecting tips:

In 1974 Michael Shaara caught lightning in a bottle and wrote The Killer Angels, a transcendent novel about the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg, which was the surprise winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Because it is a book nearly impossible not to read more than once, combined with the cheap "perfect" binding provided for the book by the publisher (and which is about the most imperfect way that one can bind a book), copies are generally founded in worn condition. Coveted as both fiction, and by Civil War buffs, nice copies are hard to find and easy to sell. The uses the book has been put to are less admirable, Ted Turner used it as the basis for the film Gettysburg, which brought together the worst collection of fake beards ever compiled in a film, and Shaara's son has undertaken to continue his father's work with an earnest, if commercially successful mediocrity. Stick with dad's book. Shaara published two other books in his lifetime to less than no acclaim, although his first The Broken Place (1968), a Korean War novel, was reportedly a noble effort. His posthumously published novel For Love of the Game (1991), enjoys some currency with fans of baseball fiction. Neither of the last two aforementioned are particularly expensive. During his short life Shaara was reportedly difficult to get along with, and signed copies of his works are very uncommon.more