Charles Mercer

The son of a Baptist minister, Charles Mercer was a 1939 graduate of Brown University and served in U.S, Army Intelligence in World War II and during the Korean Conflict. Starting as a reporter for the Washington Post, Mercer subsequently wrote a column about television programs for the Associated Press. He also wrote seventeen novels (including "Rachel Cade", which sold three million copies) and twelve nonfiction books which were primarily aimed at young adults. In 1979, he retired from G. P. Putnam's Sons as Vice President and Senior Editor of Young Adult Books.