Video Description: Through 16 novels, and for nearly 25 years, Jeff Shaara has been taking us inside the human story of America’s wars – from his award-winning debut “Gods and Generals” (the prequel to his father Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece “The Killer Angels”), to his new novel “To Wake the Giant,” about the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. In this candid interview from his historic home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Shaara talks about the survivors who inspired him, the writing process that keeps him sane, and the readers who keep him on his toes.

• Provide the video to students interested in books by this author and/or books about World War II or books of historic fiction.
• Use the video in an activity focused on students writing their own story inspired by an historic event. What insights do the students gain into telling the story they want to write?
• Use the video in a flipped learning activity and have students come to class prepared to share two insights gained by watching the video and two questions they’d like answered through their own or class research.