Michael Shaara

(1929 – 1988)

Michael Shaara was an American writer of SF and other genres of fiction. He was born to Italian immigrant parents (the family name was originally spelled Sciarra) in Jersey City, NJ.

He graduated in 1951 from Rutgers University, and later served as a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne division prior to the Korean War.

His first published SF story was "All the Way Back" in Astounding (July, 1952). A collection of his SF stories, Soldier Boy, was published in 1982.

Before Shaara began selling SF stories to magazines in the 1950s, he was an amateur boxer and police officer. He later taught literature at Florida State University, while continuing to write fiction. The stress of this and his smoking caused him to have a heart attack at the early age of 36.

His son Jeffrey and daughter Lila are also novelists.

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1975 -- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Killer Angels

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Person

1929—1988

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