Fast, Howard

(US, 1914–2003)

Fast was born in New York City. He began his career as a prolific novelist in 1933 after abandoning his study of art. Much of his fiction is set during the American Revolutionary War. A private soldier encamped with Washington at Valley Forge is the hero of Conceived in Liberty (1939), while The Unvanquished (1942) concentrates on the growth of Washington's character as a military leader and statesman. Spartacus (1951) deals with the rising of Roman slaves in 71 BC and reflects the Communist views for which Fast was ostracized during the McCarthy era. Notable among his later works is The Confession of Joe Cullen (1990), in which a Vietnam veteran working for the CIA in South America attempts to expose secret government deals in arms and drugs. Fast also published crime fiction under the pseudonym E. V. Cunningham.

Irving Stone, Leon Uris, Herman Wouk  DH