Jeff Shaara's Vision of Glory

Taking up the mantle of his late father, Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Shaara, Jeff Shaara has assumed center stage as one of the nation's preeminent writers of historical fiction.

Unlike most authors of this genre, however, Shaara doesn't create fictional characters and drop them into a historic setting (ala James Cameron's Academy Award winning tale of romance inserted into the fateful voyage of the Titanic). The Shaara Style, learned from his father, is to work with actual historical figures, bringing them to life with dramatic dialog and a peek inside their thoughts and emotions.

Obviously, this requires some 'poetic license' as the saying goes, but Shaara strives hard for historic accuracy. He leaves the actual events of history undisturbed, which cannot be said for the screen writers of some rather famous movies based on historic events. In fact, even in creating dialog and emotions for the characters, Shaara stays true to what is actually known about them.

"Wherever possible, my research takes me through their letters and memoirs, their diaries, their own written histories, or the accounts written by people who were there," Shaara explains in his preface to Rise to Rebellion. "In telling you their stories from their points of view, it is essential that the research take me into their minds. It then becomes my task to bring those voices to you."

Shaara makes no claim that his books should be read as scholarly history. In fact, he is adamant that they are novels. But Shaara is no Oliver Stone. He maintains a strong allegiance to actual recorded history, and keeps the characters in his novel consistent with the actual characters of history they represent.

Literary reviews of Shaara's work on the American Revolution have been largely favorable. Publisher's Weekly hailed his first installment, Rise to Rebellion, as a "masterful dramatization of the fateful escalation" to revolution. It called his second and most recent book, The Glorious Cause, a "vivid and compelling...narrative that's impossible to put down." Library Journal termed Glorious Cause as being "rich, exciting and compelling." Such descriptions have been common.

Perhaps the strongest objection against Shaara, on the part of many historians and reviewers, is the almost reverent approach he brings to his subject. While Shaara treats the British, especially the very competent and underappreciated Lord Charles Cornwallis, with respect, he is clearly on the side of the Founders of the United States. No reader will question the Good Guys from the Bad Guys in these books.

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