TrailerFour days. One novel.
Two generations.
A first look at the story behind The Killer Angels, airing on public television and streaming on the PBS app November 1, 2026.
A father, a son, and the book between them
The Gettysburg Book: A Father, Son & The Killer Angels is a 2026 documentary feature film by Jake Boritt and Gordon Beittenmiller that tells the story of author Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Killer Angels through the eyes of his son Jeff, and daughter Lila. Narrated by actor Stephen Lang (Avatar, Gettysburg), the film intertwines Shaara’s enduring historical fiction prose on the four days of The Battle of Gettysburg with the complex and turbulent creation of the book itself, revealing how a single novel changed American memory, but scarred the family behind it. The novel’s reach and abiding legacy – something that Shaara himself did not live to see – is reinforced by commentary from Ken Burns, Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels, and Stephen Lang, as well as Gettysburg (1993) film director Ron Maxwell, and historian Caroline Janney.
On public television
Premieres November 1, 2026. Check your local station’s schedule, or stream on PBS.org and the PBS app.
See broadcast schedule
