MacKinlay Kantor, born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter.
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MacKinlay Kantor, born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter.
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MacKinlay Kantor wrote more than 30 novels, several set during the American Civil War, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel, Andersonville.
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MacKinlay Kantor was born and grew up in Webster City, Iowa, the second child and only son in his family.
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MacKinlay Kantor's father, John Martin Kantor, was a native-born Swedish Jew descended from "a long line of rabbis, who posed as a Protestant clergyman".
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MacKinlay Kantor's mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.
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MacKinlay Kantor's mother returned to her parents in Webster City, Mr and Mrs Adam McKinlay, to live at their home with her children.
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MacKinlay Kantor changed its spelling, adding an "a", because he thought it sounded more Scottish, and chose to be called "Mack" or MacKinlay.
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MacKinlay Kantor attended the local schools and described the Kendall Young Public Library as his "university".
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MacKinlay Kantor married Florence Irene Layne, and they had two children together.
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From 1928 to 1934, MacKinlay Kantor wrote numerous stories for pulp fiction magazines, to earn a living and support his family; these works included crime stories and mysteries.
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MacKinlay Kantor sold his first pulp stories, "Delivery Not Received" and "A Bad Night for Benny", to Edwin Baird, editor of Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories.
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In 1932, MacKinlay Kantor moved with his family from the Midwest to New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area.
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MacKinlay Kantor's work was part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
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MacKinlay Kantor interviewed numerous wounded troops, whose thoughts and ideas inspired a later novel of his.
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When Kantor interviewed U S troops, many told him the only goal was to get home alive.
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MacKinlay Kantor wrote a novel in blank verse, which was published as Glory for Me.
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MacKinlay Kantor was said to have lost his temper with Goldwyn and walked off the Hollywood lot.
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MacKinlay Kantor was the only civilian other than reporters allowed to ride with police on their beat.
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MacKinlay Kantor often rode on night shifts, working with the 23rd Precinct, whose territory ranged from upper Park Avenue to East Harlem, comprising a wide range of residents and incomes.
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Also in 1950 MacKinlay Kantor took up research into the post-war life of a war widow.
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In discussions with the chaplain at Mitchel Field, MacKinlay Kantor was referred to Margaret Stavish of Bellmore, New York, who had lost her B-24 pilot husband, Edward Dobson, killed in action on November 18, 1943, and in 1947 married John Stavish, a veteran of the Pacific theater.
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MacKinlay Kantor then published their story, "V-J Day Plus Five Years, " in the August 1950 issue of Redbook Magazine.
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MacKinlay Kantor was noted for his limited use of punctuation within his literary compositions.
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MacKinlay Kantor was known for a lack of quotation marks and was influential in this regard on Cormac McCarthy, who said that Kantor was the first writer he encountered who left them out.
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MacKinlay Kantor was one of three primary influences on McCarthy's adopting his unique style.
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In writing more than 30 novels, MacKinlay Kantor often returned to the theme of the American Civil War.
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MacKinlay Kantor passed his payment on to Trumbo to help him survive.
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MacKinlay Kantor established his own publishing house, and published several of his works in the 1930s and 1940s.
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