Jennings Michael Burch (April 27, 1941 – January 15, 2013)[1] was an American writer and author of the 1984 best-selling autobiography They Cage the Animals At Night.
[2][3][4] Jennings Michael Burch was born in the South Bronx, New York and spent most of his childhood in foster homes.
Burch's mother, a single parent, first placed her children in foster care in 1949, when Jennings was eight and a half.
Between 1949 and 1954, Burch stayed in 32 foster homes, moved with his family[which?]
[5] He worked as a New York City policeman, a chauffeur, a theater manager, a magazine pressman, and a short-order cook.