[1] He served in the Army infantry during World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters and helped liberate Nazi concentration camps.
[2] He described his writing as dealing "with the displacement and disorganization of Americans in urban life; with their attempt to find adjustments in the glossy attractions of the mass media-movies, radio, TV, advertising, etc.–and in the image-radiating seductions of our institutions..
Stanley Kauffmann described the opening the book “like clicking on a switch: at once we hear the electric hum of talent.”[2] In The New York Times Book Review, Webster Schott said most of the stories “rise from Manhattan, isle of illusions, and all deal with the consequences of placing faith in fantasies.”[2] Willy Remembers (1971) tells the story of an elderly Spanish-American War veteran suffering from memory issues.
[2] In an introduction to the paperback edition of the book in 1983, Elmore Leonard wrote, “There is more sustained energy in the telling of what he remembered than in any novel I’ve ever read.”[2] The Steagle (1966) told of a professor who slips into a fantasy world during the Cuban missile crisis and travels the country seeking amorous adventures.
The film adaptation was directed by Paul Sylbert and starred Richard Benjamin, Chill Wills and Cloris Leachman.