Evan Shelby Connell Jr. (August 17, 1924 – January 10, 2013) was a U.S. novelist, short-story writer, essayist and author of epic historical works.
Connell grew up in the upper middle-class Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri,[3] and graduated from Southwest High School in 1941.
[citation needed] The pair of novels was adapted as a 1990 Merchant-Ivory motion picture, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
[6] Connell's 1960 novel The Patriot is the story of Melvin Isaacs, aged 17, and his experiences in naval aviation school during the Second World War.
Connell's 1984 sweeping account of George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Son of the Morning Star, earned critical acclaim and was a bestseller.