Herman Wouk Books In Order

Publication Order of The Henry Family Books

Publication Order of The Hope and the Glory Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Standalone Plays

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Herman Wouk is a Jewish American author, born on 27th May 1915 and his genres includes religion & spirituality, historical fiction, and literature & fiction. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner and he is among the best selling authors. His notable works include War and Remembrance, The winds of War, The Caine Mutiny, etc. His family came to the United States from Russia and he was born in New York. He was in Bronx for most of his childhood and adolescence and from Townsend Harris High School he earned his high school diploma certificate. In 1934, from Columbia University, he earned his B. A degree and he was a student of Irwin Edman, a philosopher. He was also a Pi Lambda Phi fraternity member. Soon after some time he was working in “Joke Factory” as a radio dramatist under David Freedman and later for five years with Fred Allen. He started writing radio spots for the United States government in 1941, in order to sell war bonds. In his early 20s, his life was fairly secular, but later he turned his lifestyle towards Jewish way, following his grandfather’s way.

Wouk later joined navy of the United States and Pacific Theater is where he served. According to him this was the place where he learned about the behavior of men working under pressure, about machinery and about Americans. USS Southard and USS Zane were the two DMS (Destroyer Minesweeper) where Wouk served as an officer and later he became the executive officer of USS Southard. When he was off-duty he started to write a novel named ‘Aurora Dawn’. Wouk took the opening chapter’s copy and sent it to the philosopher Irwin Edman and through him it went to a New York Editor. The result of this was that a contract letter was sent to his ship by the publisher, which was at that time off the coast of Okinawa. In 1947, his novel was published and soon became the main selection of the Book of the Month Club. In 1948, City Boy, his second novel was published and was a commercial disappointment. During the time Herman Wouk was writing his next novel, he used to take the help of his wife and read each chapter to her. His wife at that time remarked that he should change his line of work if this doesn’t work out.

In 1951, the novel named ‘The Cane Mutiny’ was published and the result was that it won the Pulitzer Prize. He used his experience as a minesweeper during his serving in World War II to write The Caine Mutiny and it became a huge best-seller. The Caine Mutiny Court Martial is the name of the Broadway play adapted by the author and later it was used to make a film. The role of Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg was portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, who was serving in the fictional USS Caine as a captain. There were complains back then by some of the Navy Personnel that within just one character every commanding officer’s twitch has been put by Wouk. Regardless of all these complains Captain Queeg is now American fiction’s one of the greatest characters. In 1945, he married Betty Sarah Brown and Abraham, Nathanial, and Joseph are the three sons they had. In order to support his growing family, he became a full-time writer in the year 1946. Abraham Isaac Wouk, his first-born son died as a child in a tragic accident and later in 1978 he wrote ‘War and Remembrance’ to dedicate him and used the words “He will destroy death forever” from the Bible. The Guardian of Zion Award was given to Herman Wouk in the year 1998 and he is still alive and lives in the state of California.

Among the novels that Wouk has written, The Caine Mutiny is one of the earliest and was published by Back Bay Books in the year 1951. The story is being told by a young man named Willis Seward Keith, also known as Willie, who has just signed for the midshipman school for the United States Navy in order to escape the process of drafting by the Army at the time of World War II. He has to go through a lot of tribulations as he has some relationship conflicts with his mother and with the daughter of an Italian immigrant. Her name is May Wynn and she is a nightclub singer with beautiful red hairs. He barely survives in the midshipman school, earning demerits of the highest number. Soon he is commissioned and assigned to USS Caine, which is a destroyer minesweeper from the World War I. Soon he meets Captain Francis Queen and Willie starts to take up his responsibilities. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in the year 1952 and was a huge best-seller. The novel was adapted for a Broadway play and also for a movie.

Another great book by Herman Wouk is ‘The Winds of War’ that was published on 1st January 1971 by Back Bay Books. It is one of the greatest masterpieces of historical fiction and it is in two parts. The story is told by the Henry family of America and it is about World War II. The novel talks about all the political and military situations during a war along with the comprehensive background. The situation on the battlefield and around America as well as Europe is deeply explained in a broad manner. The book ends at Pearl Harbor and it continues with a second book titled ‘War and Remembrance’. Wouk started to work on the novel in 1958 and after a lot of research, writing and thoughts it got published in the year 1971, taking thirteen years of time. There are many recent books published about WWII, but none of them are as realistic as The Winds of War as it was written closer to the wartime and by a veteran of the war himself. In 1983 a TV miniseries was made based on The Winds of War and it starred Robert Mitchum and was a huge success. The second part was also the same and was adapted for TV miniseries in the year 1988.