Milton Meltzer

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Milton Meltzer (born May 8, 1915) is an American historian and author best known for his history nonfiction books on Jewish, African-American and American history. Since the 1950s he has been a leading author of history books in the children's literature and young adult literature genres. He has written over 100 books.

Contents 1 Life 2 Literary works 3 Other work 4 Writings 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Life

Meltzer was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was educated at Columbia University from 1932-1936, and currently lives in New York City. He wed Hilda Balinky on June 22, 1941 and they have two daughters.^[1] He has two grandsons.

[edit] Literary works

Meltzer's books often chronicle people's struggles for freedom, such as the American Revolution, the antislavery movement of the nineteenth century United States, and the movement against antisemitism. He has written several biographies, including one of Langston Hughes and Thomas Jefferson, and though most of his books are nonfiction, he has written at least one historical novel, "The Underground Man", about a white abolitionist in the 1800s United States who is imprisoned for helping escaped slaves. Meltzer has won many awards, both for individual books and his lifetime achievements, including the 2001 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal and the John Newbery Medal.^[2]

[edit] Other work

Meltzer was an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a lecturer at universities in the United States and England, as well as professional meetings and seminars.

Meltzer has also done work on various documentary films such as History of the American Negro and Five.^[3]

He served in the U.S. Air Force and rose to the rank of sergeant.

[edit] Writings

• Thomas Jefferson: The Revolutionary Aristocrat
• A Pictorial History of Black Americans, with Langston Hughes and C. Eric Hughes (originally entitled A Pictorial History of the Negro in America)
• Black Magic: A Pictorial History of the African-American in the Performing Arts, with Langston Hughes
• The Black Americans: A History in Their Own Words
• The Jewish Americans: A History in their own words
• The American Revolutionaries: A History in their own words
• All Times, All Peoples: A World History of Slavery
• Never to forget: The Jews of the Holocaust
• Columbus: and the World Around Him
• Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
• Mark Twain Himself
• Starting From Home

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• “It Was a Wildly Exciting Time”: Milton Meltzer Remembers the New Deal’s Federal Theatre Project. by Milton Meltzer/Elizabeth C. Stevens
• Summary of biographies from Bookrags.com