For the remaining years of his life, the active and talented man who had done so much and written so well, was restricted by health problems. He was able to write his third novel, The Herald, as well as a screenplay for The Killer Angels. He also traveled to Ireland to do some site research for the filming of that screenplay, but his health continued to hamper his activities. Unable to enjoy so many things that had given him joy — including his writing — he was bitter and withdrawn. Michael Shaara died on May 5, 1988, at the age of 59.
At the time of his death Shaara left behind a number of projects. These included an autobiography, the screenplay for The Killer Angels, a book on Shakespeare, and an unpublished novel about baseball, written several years earlier. His son, Jeff, took over his literary estate and brought about the posthumous publication of the baseball novel, For Love of the Game, which was later made into a movie starring Kevin Costner. Even more importantly, working with an old friend of his father's, Ronald F. Maxwell, Jeff Shaara saw to it that the screenplay for The Killer Angels made it to film. In 1993, with Maxwell as director, the film, Gettysburg, was completed. Following a suggestion from Maxwell, the younger Shaara, took on the challenge of completing a trilogy that had his father's book, The Killer Angels, as the centerpiece. Jeff Shaara wrote Gods and Generals, set before The Killer Angels, and The Last Full Measure, set right after it.
