Before World War II, he wrote a couple of film scripts and as a journalist for the New York Daily Mirror.
After the war, Berkman worked as a foreign correspondent giving the first report of the explosion of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946 on ABC Radio.
He also wrote the screen play for the 1957 movie Fear Strikes Out starring Anthony Perkins and based on the book written by professional baseball player Jimmy Piersall about his mental illness.
He wrote two more screenplays during the decade including United Artists Edge of Fury in 1958 and Girl in the Night for Warner Brothers in 1960.
Berkman's first book Cast a Giant Shadow was written about Mickey Marcus, a West Point graduate who advised the Israeli military during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.