His mother was institutionalized for depression when he was two years old, so he lived in a Jewish orphanage in Manhattan until he was seven, when he was sent to the Hebrew National Orphan Home in Yonkers.
[1] He held a variety of writing and editing jobs, including copy editor for Fairchild Publications in New York, reporter for The Arlington Sun in Virginia, stringer for The Washington Post and freelance magazine writer.
[3] In 1965, Nathanson wrote the war novel The Dirty Dozen, a story about twelve servicemen convicted of robbery, murder and rape, sent on a suicide mission to blow up a chateau of German generals just before D-Day with the promise of commuted sentences to those who survive.
[1] The novel was inspired by a B movie directed by Roger Corman, The Secret Invasion, and a true story of World War II American criminal paratroopers nicknamed "The Dirty Dozen" (or "Filthy Thirteen" for their refusal to bathe), said to have gone on a similar mission.
[1] Nathanson researched in vain for two years to verify the story's accuracy before receiving a contract for the fictionalized novel, which sold over two million copies in ten languages.