Philip Wylie

Philip Gordon Wylie (May 12, 1902 - October 25, 1971) was an American author who wrote on everything from pulp science fiction to mysteries, social diatribes, and satire, as well as ecology and the fear of nuclear war. Wylie was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, the son of Presbyterian preacher Edmund Melville Wylie and novelist Edna Edwards, who died when Philip was five years old. Later, his family relocated to Montclair, New Jersey.

From 1920 through 1923, Wylie attended Princeton University. Wylie produced hundreds of articles, novels, serials, short stories, syndicated newspaper columns, and works of social commentary as a fiction and nonfiction writer. While in Hollywood, he also wrote screenplays, worked as an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, was a member of the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and was an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, which resulted in the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission.

As a result of his studies and interests in biology, ethnology, physics, and psychology, the majority of Wylie's main writings feature critical, though frequently philosophical, views on man and society. At least nine films have been made based on Wylie's novels or novellas. He sold the rights to two further films that were never made.