How respected are Jeff Shaara books by historians? I'm reading Rising Tide about WWII by him now, just would love to know how well he did his homework.

Also, to tack on, how do historians view his father's work, The Killer Angels?

Obviously many of the conversations, thoughts, etc are made up, but do historians think they might fit in line with the actual people, or is thought he failed to accurately capture who they were?

And how is the history itself? Taking out the embellished aspects, do the actual events line up with the history?

While it obviously preaches on quite a bit, and perhaps focuses on more sympathetic portrayals of some characters and places too much emphasis on some characters and people, it was the book that sparked an interest in the ACW for me when I read it in 5th grade, and a love for history in general because it had helped to make history come alive as opposed to just being dates and names learned in class. As such I'm curious about how it's viewed by those better versed in the subject than I.