more photos (3)

Herman Wouk’s Followers (1,427)

Herman Wouk

Born

in New York, New York, The United States

May 27, 1915

Died

May 17, 2019

Website

http://www.hermanwouk.net/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction, Religion & Spirituality

edit data

Herman Wouk was a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish American author with a number of notable novels to his credit, including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.

Herman Wouk was born in New York City into a Jewish family that had emigrated from Russia. After a childhood and adolescence in the Bronx and a high school diploma from Townsend Harris High School, he earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 1934, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and studied under philosopher Irwin Edman. Soon thereafter, he became a radio dramatist, working in David Freedman's "Joke Factory" and later with Fred Allen for five years and then, in 1941, for the United States government, writing radio spots to sell Herman Wouk was a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish American author with a number of notable novels to his credit, including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.

Herman Wouk was born in New York City into a Jewish family that had emigrated from Russia. After a childhood and adolescence in the Bronx and a high school diploma from Townsend Harris High School, he earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 1934, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and studied under philosopher Irwin Edman. Soon thereafter, he became a radio dramatist, working in David Freedman's "Joke Factory" and later with Fred Allen for five years and then, in 1941, for the United States government, writing radio spots to sell war bonds. He lived a fairly secular lifestyle in his early 20s before deciding to return to a more traditional Jewish way of life, modeled after that of his grandfather, in his mid-20s.

Wouk joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific Theater, an experience he later characterized as educational; "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." Wouk served as an officer aboard two destroyer minesweepers (DMS), the USS Zane and USS Southard, becoming executive officer of the latter. He started writing a novel, Aurora Dawn, during off-duty hours aboard ship. Wouk sent a copy of the opening chapters to Irwin Edman who quoted a few pages verbatim to a New York editor. The result was a publisher's contract sent to Wouk's ship, then off the coast of Okinawa. The novel was published in 1947 and became a Book of the Month Club main selection. His second novel, City Boy, proved to be a commercial disappointment at the time of its initial publication in 1948.

While writing his next novel, Wouk read each chapter as it was completed to his wife, who remarked at one point that if they didn't like this one, he'd better take up another line of work (a line he would give to the character of the editor Jeannie Fry in his 1962 novel Youngblood Hawke). The novel, The Caine Mutiny (1951), went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. A huge best-seller, drawing from his wartime experiences aboard minesweepers during World War II, The Caine Mutiny was adapted by the author into a Broadway play called The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and was later made into a film, with Humphrey Bogart portraying Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg, captain of the fictional USS Caine. Some Navy personnel complained at the time that Wouk had taken every twitch of every commanding officer in the Navy and put them all into one character, but Captain Queeg has endured as one of the great characters in American fiction.

He married Betty Sarah Brown in 1945, with whom he had three sons: Abraham, Nathanial, and Joseph. He became a fulltime writer in 1946 to support his growing family. His first-born son, Abraham Isaac Wouk, died in a tragic accident as a child; Wouk later dedicated War and Remembrance (1978) to him with the Biblical words, "He will destroy death forever."

In 1998, Wouk received the Guardian of Zion Award.

Herman Wouk died in his sleep in his home in Palm Springs, California, on May 17, 2019, at the age of 103, ten days before his 104th birthday. ...more

Combine Editions
Herman Wouk’s books

Average rating: 4.31 · 159,698 ratings · 7,859 reviews · 165 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Winds of War (The Henry Family, #1) 4.38 avg rating — 59,732 ratings — published 1971 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	War and Remembrance (The Henry Family, #2) 4.43 avg rating — 39,579 ratings — published 1978 — 115 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Caine Mutiny 4.30 avg rating — 27,134 ratings — published 1951 — 220 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Marjorie Morningstar 3.99 avg rating — 9,409 ratings — published 1955 — 107 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hope (The Hope and the Glory, #1) 4.21 avg rating — 4,802 ratings — published 1993 — 59 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Don't Stop the Carnival 3.93 avg rating — 4,055 ratings — published 1965 — 69 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Glory (The Hope and the Glory, #2) 4.35 avg rating — 2,930 ratings — published 1994 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Youngblood Hawke 4.24 avg rating — 2,468 ratings — published 1962 — 45 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Inside, Outside 4.06 avg rating — 1,710 ratings — published 1985 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	City Boy 4.09 avg rating — 1,432 ratings — published 1948 — 57 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Herman Wouk…

Series by Herman Wouk

The Henry Family (2 books)
by

Herman Wouk

4.40 avg rating — 99,302 ratings

The Hope and the Glory (2 books)
by

Herman Wouk

4.26 avg rating — 7,730 ratings

Quotes by Herman Wouk (?)

“When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.”
― Herman Wouk

tags: danger, humor

1197 likes

“This life is slow suicide, unless you read.”
― Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny

68 likes

“Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war, but on the love of peace. It will not be the abstaining from an act, but the coming of a state of mind.”
― Herman Wouk, The Winds of War

63 likes

See all Herman Wouk's quotes »

Polls

2nd Quarter (Apr - June) Long Read 2017

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville, 1851, 720 pages

63 votes, 20.9%

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, 1320, 798 pages

49 votes, 16.3%

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, 1991, 896 pages

40 votes, 13.3%

Ulysses by James Joyce, 1922, 810 pages

32 votes, 10.6%

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, 1021, 1182 pages

31 votes, 10.3%

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, 1985, 945 pages

28 votes, 9.3%

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, 1993, 1474 pages

17 votes, 5.6%

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk, 1921, 896 pages

15 votes, 5.0%

Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson, 1748, 1534 pages

10 votes, 3.3%

Weaveworld by Clive Barker, 1987, 721 pages

9 votes, 3.0%

East Lynne by Mrs. Henry Wood, 1861, 694 pages

7 votes, 2.3%

301 total votes

10 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
100+ Books in 2026: Diane's 100 for 2009	21	189	Sep 09, 2009 05:54AM
The Life of a Boo...: Nance's TBR Challenge 2010	23	123	Jun 16, 2010 02:56PM
Historical Fictio...: August/September Group Read(s): Mistress of Rome & (Runner-Up) The True Story of Hansel & Gretel	102	152	Aug 09, 2010 12:03PM
Historical Fictio...: World War II -America's Role	33	143	Aug 22, 2010 09:47AM
Historical Fictio...: Challenge #3 - June 1 - August 31st	741	612	Sep 01, 2010 07:10PM
Unputdownables Bo...: LemonLinda :: TBR	30	61	Sep 03, 2010 06:08PM

More…

Herman Wouk’s Followers (1,427)

Herman Wouk

Combine EditionsHerman Wouk’s books

Series by Herman Wouk

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Herman Wouk’s books