michael shaara did not live to see his great success. he passed away in 1988. five years later the movie gettysburg comes up with the killer angels becomes a number one bestseller. he did not live to see that. in lighting the prequel and sequel to his great work, there is a certain terror that comes with that. there is no competition, this is not about the father, the shadow of the father. it is simply about the lesson my father taught me. which is that if you're going to talk about these people, tell the good story. being a child in my father's house sitting at the dinner table, that is my memory. not hearing him give a history lesson. it wouldn't have interest in him any more than interested me. but to tell the story of chamberlain. tell the story of what it was like during for those men to walk, walk across the field into the guns of the enemy. and when the man next to goes down, you keep walking. that is the story. and going back to the american revolution it was a marvelous discovery for me. what i discovered is where we came from. i know george washington

what is it about the civil war and jeff shaara and your father michael shaara? >> he does answer the question. what michael shaara did, in 1974, 10 years, that continues 1964 we went to gettysburg and we were tourists. >> tallahassee florida. her father was teaching florida state. my father had been a writer his young life. , sci-fi, short stories, and we went to gettysburg as tourists. and i'm dating myself, eight millimeters film on canonsburg desert 12 girls do. something happened to my father there. first of all he was a storyteller. he was a master. he knew a good story when he saw one. he started doing some research on gettysburg and he became obsessed with telling a story. it took him seven years to put the e manuscript together and t reason for that is he had to teach to make a living. because he didn't make a living from his writing which was sad. he was teaching during the day, writing at night. and he the manuscript together, it was turned down by 15 publishers in new york. and finally, a minuscule publisher picked it up. $3500. my father was thrilled

the problem is it comes out in print, it sounds like michael shaara's a schizophrenic. but i get what he meant, i know exactly what he meant. when i'm writing a scene to you, i'm there. i'm hearing the dialogue, i'm just telling you what i hear. that's, i hate to use the word, the magic of it. when it's ready to go and it comes out like that, there's no more fun for me than that. >> host: how'd you end up living in gettysburg? [laughter] >> guest: well, first of all, i was going to gettysburg from really 1993 when the movie gettysburg came out. i was going, i was doing book signings and various things promoting the film, and then i -- so i was going back, then gods and generals came out, that was a logical place to do a book signing. and i was doing that twice a year, i was going there. the first of july, and then november 19, the anniversary of the gettysburg address. and i was doing all kinds of events, so twice a year i would go there. and twice a year i would stay in the same little boutique hotel. and the manager of the hotel, the woman i became friends with over 2