Can you give me the surprising facts you know about American authors?

Question

I'm collecting startling facts on any American author from William Bradford down to contemporary times.

Answer 1

Not all Americans but interesting:
-James Bond author Ian Fleming also wrote the children's novel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
-Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the wind as she was bored recuperating from a sprained ankle and Scarlett was originally named Pansy.
- The Dr Seuss book, Yertle the turtle was based on Adolf Hitler, while Marvin K Mooney was based on Richard Nixon
-Truman Capote would only ever write on yellow paper
-Danielle Steele is a descendant of the Lowenbrau brewery family and ran a PR company called Supergirls before becoming a novelist
-Catch 22 was originally called Catch 18
Hope you enjoy. There are plenty more in a fantastic book I have called.....

Answer 2

The only surprising thing I know about any American author is about Ernest Hemingway, who was given electric-shock "treatment" (what a terrible thing to do to anyone, never mind a creative genius!) and who said about the shock doctors "what's the point of living now they've taken my talent away?" It's just about the most destructive thing anyone could do to another person apart from murder, and I reckon it's soul murder anyway. Lobotomy is the only worse one! Think of the wonderful literature we've lost because he didn't continue. The doctors get a lot of money for doing it though, so it won't stop until they are FORCED to stop it. Sadly our politicians believe what the shrinks tell them! It would take a very special shrink to make me believe them. There are one or two, and Dr. Peter Breggin is the one who is doing the most to bring psychiatry under control. Anyone who's interested can read his book "Toxic Psychiatry". It's a real eye-opener.

Answer 3

Review from: Choice, January 2002

For readers unfamiliar with the "First Facts" series, this title will seem like a long list of numerical entries, but the compilers have created a useful reference source of more than 4,000 entries on important "firsts" that occurred in US political history. Entries are organized under main categories and subcategories arranged alphabetically (e.g., "Presidents," "Presidents-Assassinations"). Within each category, the compilers arrange entries chronologically. Topics cover the full spectrum of US political history, 16th century to the present. Entries include such events as the first time "Uncle Sam" appeared as a reference to the US or the first year an issue such as abortion was mentioned in the national platforms of political parties. The authors assign every entry a four-digit sequential number that enables them to create five indexes by subject, year, month/day, personal name, and geographic area, allowing readers to access information in various ways--e.g., the month/day index enables users to view all the political firsts for a particular date. Highly recommended for all academic and public libraries. –E. S. Danowitz, American University

Review from: American Reference Books Annual 2002

Famous First Facts About American Politics follows the formula that has made the Famous First Facts series a staple in reference collections since 1933. The authors have compiled more than 4,000 firsts related to American politics. In this work, “politics” is broadly defined to include such seemingly nonpolitical facts as the first “First Lady to write a book published by a commercial publisher” (Helen Herron Taft) and the first “City to own a National Football League franchise” (Green Bay, Wisconsin). Most entries, however, fit a more traditional definition of politics, covering topics such as elected and appointed officials, government at all levels, courts, legislation, and political parties. Entries begin in 1507 with the first “use of ‘America’ as a geographical designation” and continue through 2000. The facts in this book are arranged within broad alphabetic subject groupings, beginning with “American Revolution” and ending with “White House” and are easily accessible though five separate indexes: subject, year, month and day, personal name, and geographical.

Much of the information compiled is available in almanacs, encyclopedias, and other ready-reference sources, but it is handy to have all of the "firsts” available in a single place. Although there is some duplication of entries from the 5th edition of Famous First Facts (see ARBA 99, entry 46), the vast majority of entries are unique to this work. It is recommended for all reference collections.

Review from: Midwest Book Review from Oregon, WI USA

A vast compendium of useful reference materials, Famous First Facts About American Politics is the latest in the venerable Wilson Facts Series. With an introduction that clearly explains how to best find and make use of the political facts you need, and five different indexes (there is a separate index by subject, years, month/day, personal names, and geography), Famous First Facts About American Politics is the perfect book for someone who needs to look up something about American politics without a second to spare. Highly recommended for political writers, columnists, debaters, and anyone else charged with research under a tight deadline (which also aptly describes just about everyone involved in American politics), Famous First Facts About American Politics is a strongly recommended, core title for academic and public library American political science reference collections.

Answer 4

Ernest Hemingway left his house in the keys to his six-toed cat. Today it is sanctuary for cats. They are taken care of by people and one alpha male is left intact to continue the six-toed cats.

Answer 5

william burroughs covered his kid's room with plastic so that they could make all the mess they wanted, including peeing and crapping in their room, and he would just have to hose it out once a week.

on hemmingway again, he had three six-toed cats, named "kitty #1", "kitty #2", and "kitty #3"

Answer 6

Nathaniel Hawthorne changed his last name from "Hathorne" because his ancestors were involved in the witch trials and he felt he had to repent for them.