Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

1. What is the author’s purpose in writing this book? The author wanted to write a book about the actual men in the civil war instead of the war itself. He wanted to write a story that had no bad side, because there wasn’t one, there were only men who had dreams, and the will to fight for what they believed in. Shaara wanted to instill some understanding about the men in the civil war in readers, by writing their points of view. 2. Describe the author’s background (how do you know this?). Michael Shaara was the son of Italian immigrants, born in Jersey city, New Jersey in 1928. His last name was originally spelled “Sciarra”. Shaara didn’t always want to be a writer. He actually realized his dream of being a writer while he was at Rutgers University. He wrote many science-fiction short stories for popular magazines in that day. He later started writing regular fiction stories, and had many published in Playboy, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and The Saturday Evening Post. In the late 50’s, a couple of his stories were produced as television shows. I found this information by going online to jeffshaara.com/michaelbio.html. 3. Does the author indicate sources of data? Give examples. Shaara does not have a bibliograph