Warren Miller | |
Birth Date: | 31 August 1921 |
Death Date: | [1] |
Birth Place: | Stowe, Pennsylvania |
Death Place: | New York City, New York |
Occupation: | Writer |
Genre: | Nonfiction, social commentary |
Notableworks: | The Cool World |
Pseudonym: | Amanda Vail |
Warren Miller (August 31, 1921 – April 1, 1966) was an American writer. He gained fame for his books dealing with issues of race, as in The Cool World (1959) and The Siege of Harlem (1964), and for his more political books such as Looking for The General (1964) and Flush Times (1962).
He was born in a village in Pennsylvania where his grandfather kept the general store. He enrolled at the University of Iowa but part way through his studies he joined the US Army. While in uniform he took part in the Normandy invasion.[2]
After the war he returned to complete his education and received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Iowa, and was an instructor of literature there during the 1950s. He later worked in insurance. By 1956 he was manager of the Push Pin Studios, an advertising art agency in New York.
He wrote several novels during the 1950s and early '60s. His novel Love Me Little was originally published under the pseudonym Amanda Vail.
Miller was married twice; first to a woman named Abby, then to a woman named Jane. His first marriage produced two daughters, Scottie and Eve.
The book The Cool World was first made into a play and then a movie in 1964 directed by Shirley Clarke, produced by Frederick Wiseman, and with musical score by Dizzy Gillespie.