My Brother Sam is Dead

James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier are brothers who have coauthored eight historical novels for young adults, including The Bloody Country, Who is Carrie?, and With Every Drop of Blood, and who have also cowritten dozens of nonfiction books. The brothers grew up in Garden City, New York, and Wilton, Connecticut. The Colliers were a family of writers and teachers - their father, Edmund, was an editor and author of a number of children's books about the Old West, and their mother, Katherine, was a teacher. James Lincoln Collier began his career as a magazine editor who wrote part time. In 1958, James quit his staff job to write full time, and in 1965 he published his first book, Battle-ground: The United States Army in World War II. This nonfiction book for young people explained important military maneuvers conducted during World War II. Since then, James has written or cowritten more than thirty books for young people, ranging from humorous novels to historical fiction and nonfiction to books about music and musicians. James's books have won numerous prizes, including the Newbery Honor (for My Brother Sam Is Dead), the Child Study Association's Best Book Award, the Jane Addams Peace Prize, and the Christopher Award. His work has also twice been a finalist for the prestigious National Book Award. James is the father of two grown children and the grandfather of four. He and his wife live in New York City and have a country home in Pawling, New York. Christopher Collier went to Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951. After two years of service in the armed forces, he went to Columbia University, where he earned his master's degree in 1955, and went on to become a history teacher for more than forty-five years. While a history teacher at junior and senior high schools, he was inspired to write historical novels. However, it wasn't until after he had earned his doctorate at Columbia and began teaching history at the college level that Christopher convinced his brother James to collaborate with him on a historical novel for young people. The result of that first collaboration was My Brother Sam Is Dead. While Christopher is primarily the researcher of the books and James is the writer, Christopher is a writer in his own right. As a former professor and historian, Christopher has written many scholarly articles and books. In addition to winning the Newbery Honor and other awards for books he has written with his brother, Christopher has won high praise for some of his own books. One of these, Roger Sherman's Connecticut: Yankee Politics and the American Revolution, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished achievement in literature. A father of three and grandfather of four, Christopher Collier lives with his wife in Orange, Connecticut.Collier, James Lincoln is the author of 'My Brother Sam is Dead' with ISBN 9780439771306 and ISBN 0439771307.