Anton Myrer

Infobox Writer
name = Anton Myrer


caption =
birthdate = birth date|1922|11|3
birthplace = Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
nationality = flagicon|USA American
deathdate = death date|1996|1|19
deathplace = Saugerties, New York, United States
occupation = Novelist
genre = Fiction
movement =
notableworks =
influences =
influenced =
website =

Anton Olmstead Myrer (November 3, 1922–January 19, 1996) was an American author, best known for the historical military novel "Once an Eagle".

Early years and military service

Born in Worcester,cite book|last = Myrer|first = Anton|authorlink = Anton Myrer|editor = |title = Once an Eagle|publisher = Harper Perennial|id = ISBN 0-060084-35-9] he grew up in Boston, graduating from Boston Latin High School in 1940. He prepared at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before entering Harvard College in September 1941 with the Class of '45. His studies were interrupted, however, following the December 7, 1941] attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after the attack, he, like many of his college peers, sought to enroll in the Army Reserve but was rejected. In 1942, he enlisted and was accepted by the United States Marine Corps. He participated in the Battle of Guam and the occupation of the remaining Mariana Islands afterwards. He was wounded at Guam and rose to the rank of corporal before being discharged in 1946.

Education, marriage, and writing

He returned to Harvard and graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. two years after his original classmates in May 1947.

In August 1947, he married artist Judith Rothschild and moved to California. Random House published his first novel "Evil Under the Sun" in 1951. To support his family, he continued to work a number of low-paying, blue-collar jobs. In 1957, "The Big War", published by Appleton-Century-Crofts, was financially and critically successful leading to the 1958 film screenplay he wrote with Edward Anhalt re-titled "In Love and War", starring Robert Wagner and Bradford Dillman.

In 1960, the Myrers moved back to the Northeast to a country home in Saugerties, NY, and a summer home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Little, Brown published "The Violent Shore" (1962) and "The Intruder" (1965).

Myrer’s most successful novel, "Once an Eagle", was published in 1968 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, at the height of the Vietnam War.

He left his wife and divorced her 1970 and soon he married Patricia Schartle.

He wrote three more novels: "The Tiger Waits" (1973 published by Norton); "The Last Convertible" (1978 published by Putnam); and "A Green Desire" in (1981 also published by Putnam).

Mr. Myrer died on January 19, 1996, of leukemia. [cite web | publisher = Harper Collins| url = http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/15225/Anton_Myrer/index.aspx | title = Anton Myrer from HarperCollins] , at the age of 73 survived by his widow.

Bibliography

*"Evil Under the Sun" - The story of a group of artists, literary figures and locals during a summer on post-war Cape Cod. Prejudices, lingering war trauma, and frustration over the state of post-war America leads to violence. Not to be confused with the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.
*"The Big War"
*"The Violent Shore"
*"The Intruder"
*"Once an Eagle" - The story of two Army officers, one a ruthless, career-obsessed schemer, the other his exact opposite, and their personal and professional lives from the end of World War I to the beginning of Vietnam.
*"The Tiger Waits"-The story of one man's rise to academic and then political prominence in an administration, his love-hate relationship with Boston society, and how he unravels and handles a plot that threatens war.
*"The Last Convertible" - The story of five Harvard men and their coming-of-age in the dark days of World War II through the early 1960s New Frontier/Camelot/John F. Kennedy era. The elegant "last convertible" of the title is seen by them as the symbol of their romantic youth.
*"A Green Desire"

ee also

*List of U.S. Marines

References

;Web
* [http://www.once-an-eagle.com/authorprofile.php On-line biography]

External links

* [http://www.once-an-eagle.com Website dedicated to Anton Myrer and the novel Once An Eagle]