Historical fiction and author of God and Generals, his most recent novel The Final Storm, became his tenth consecutive New York Times bestseller. Jeff Shaara was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and grew up in Tallahassee, where he attended Florida State University, graduating with a degree in Criminology.  In 1996, Jeff’s first attempt at writing produced the novel Gods and Generals, published by Random House, which spent fifteen weeks on the NY Times list.  He is the recipient of the Lincoln Forum’s prestigious “Richard Nelson Current” award, and is the only two-time recipient of the American Library Association’s “Boyd Award” for excellence in military fiction.  As one of FSU’s own, he was awarded the Florida State University “Artes Award” for his significant contribution to fulfilling the artistic mission of the university, was inducted into the FSU College of Criminology's Hall of Fame, and now is the first recipient of what will become FSU's annual "Distinguished Writer's Award".  Other recent titles include No Less Than Victory (2009) and The Steel Wave (2008).