Abraham Lincoln Philip Van Doren Stern A Popular Books
Abraham Lincoln Philip Van Doren Stern A Biography & Facts
Philip Van Doren Stern (September 10, 1900 – July 31, 1984) was an American writer, editor, and Civil War historian whose story "The Greatest Gift", published in 1943, inspired the classic Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Early life Philip Van Doren Stern was born in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, into a family of humble means. His Pennsylvania-born father, Isadore Ullman, was a traveling merchant of Bavarian Jewish descent, who came to Wyalusing from West Virginia with his New Jersey-born wife, the former Anne Van Doren. Stern grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, and attended Lincoln High School in Jersey City before graduating from Rutgers University. Career After graduating from Rutgers in 1924, Stern worked in advertising before switching to a career as a designer and editor in publishing. He was an historian and author of some 40 works, and was best known for his books on the Civil War that a New York Times obituary called "authoritative" and "widely respected by scholars". As an editor, he worked at Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, and Alfred A. Knopf. He compiled and annotated short story collections by and the writings and letters of Abraham Lincoln, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau. During World War II, he was a member of the planning board of the United States Office of War Information. He was the general manager of the Armed Services Editions, which resized popular books to fit in the pockets of military uniforms. He compiled and edited many collections and anthologies of short stories, pictorial books, annotations, and books on historical subjects. Stern edited, compiled, and introduced The Viking Portable Poe in 1945, a compact collection of letters, short stories, poems, and essays by Edgar Allan Poe. Stern wrote the biographical introduction to the collection, selected the contents included, and wrote introductory essays on the varying genres. The collection became a standard single-volume anthology of Poe's works for almost fifty years. Stern died on July 31, 1984, at the age of 83. "The Greatest Gift" Short story Stern is most remembered for a short story he wrote in 1943. In February 1938 Stern awoke with the story in mind. Inspired by a dream that was reminiscent of the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol, Stern wrote a 4000-word short story called "The Greatest Gift". He began it in 1939 and finished it in 1943, but was unable to find a publisher for it. He sent 200 printed copies to friends as Christmas cards in December 1943. His daughter, Marguerite Stern Robinson, recalled, "I was in the third grade and remember delivering a few of these cards to my teachers and my friends ... My father, who was himself from a mixed religious background, explained to me that while this story takes place at Christmas time, and that we were sending it as a Christmas card to our friends, it is a universal story for all people in all times." The story was published as a book in December 1944, with illustrations by Rafaello Busoni. Stern also sold it to Reader's Scope magazine, which published it in its December 1944 issue, and to the magazine Good Housekeeping, which published it under the title "The Man Who Was Never Born" in its January 1945 issue (published in December 1944). A small edition was produced in 1996 and yet another in 2011. In a 1946 interview, Stern said that the story's setting of Bedford Falls had been modeled on Califon, New Jersey. It's a Wonderful Life One of those pamphlets came to the attention of RKO Pictures producer David Hempstead, who showed it to actor Cary Grant. Grant became interested in playing the lead role, and RKO purchased the motion picture rights for $10,000 in April 1944. After several screenwriters worked on adaptations, RKO sold the rights to the story in 1945 to Frank Capra's production company, Liberty Films, for the same $10,000. Capra adapted the story into It's a Wonderful Life in 1946. In December 1946, James Stewart, who played George Bailey in the film, wrote to Van Doren Stern, calling the story "an inspiration to everyone concerned with the picture ... the fundamental story was so sound and right." Major works An End to Valor: The Last Days of the Civil War, 1958 The Case of The Thing in the Brook, a mystery under the pseudonym Peter Storme, 1941 Prehistoric Europe: From Stone Age Man to the Early Greeks A Pictorial History of the American Automobile, 1903-1953 Edgar Allan Poe, Visitor from the Night of Time, 1973 When the Guns Roared, 1965 They Were There, 1959 Soldier Life in the Union and Confederate Armies, 1961 Henry David Thoreau: Writer and Rebel, 1972 The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln Secret Missions of the Civil War The Man Who Killed Lincoln: The Story of John Wilkes Booth, 1939, dramatized and staged in New York in 1940 The Annotated Walden: Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau The Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1964 Robert E. Lee, The Man and the Soldier; A Pictorial Biography The Confederate Navy: A Pictorial History "The Greatest Gift", 1943 Lola: A Love Story, 1949; historical novel based on the life of Lola Montez Tin Lizzie : The Story of the Fabulous Model T Ford The Portable Poe, 1945, edited, selected and with an introduction and notes by Stern References Further reading Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. Volume 86. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Directory of American Scholars. Seventh edition, Volume 1: History. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1978. The New York Times Biographical Service. Volume 15. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1984. Twentieth Century Authors. First Supplement. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1955. Who Was Who among English and European Authors, 1931-1949. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978. Daven Hiskey (December 23, 2011). "It's a Wonderful Life was Based on a "Christmas Card" Short Story by Philip Van Doren Stern". TodayIFoundOut.com. External links Philip Van Doren Stern at IMDb A photograph of Philip Van Doren Stern: http://www.all-story.com/pix.cgi?t=a&iid=22. Discover the Abraham Lincoln Philip Van Doren Stern A popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Abraham Lincoln Philip Van Doren Stern A books.
Best Seller Abraham Lincoln Philip Van Doren Stern A Books of 2024
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Becoming Lady Dalton
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Whiskey Girl
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Get Lucky
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Holy Bible
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The Target
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan DoyleAn Apple Books Classic You get not one, not two, but 25 gripping mysteries in Arthur Conan Doyle’s first of five collections of Sherlock Holmes short stories. Follow the brilliant ...
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Assisting the Bosshole
Kristin MacQueenNo hot water? Check Missed the train? Check Broke my heel? Check Dropped my coffee? Check My first day of my new job can’t possibly go worse, right? Wrong. When I meet Parker Scott...
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The Honeymoon Homicide
J. R. Mathis & Susan MathisEnjoy this SmallTown Murder Mystery Featuring A Unique Sleuthing Couple I'm Father Tom Greer, a Catholic Priest in a smalltown parish who never expected this . . . When I came...
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His Own Heaven
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Peace on Earth
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Dracula
Bram StokerAn Apple Books Classic edition. Few characters have seized readers’ imaginations quite like Count Dracula of Transylvania, the hero of Bram Stoker’s classic. The 1897 novel put vam...
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The Art of War
Sun TzuAn Apple Books Classic edition. It’s believed that Sun Tzu wrote this Chinese military primer during the 5th century BChundreds of years before the Bible. The book’s 13 chapters ex...
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Hot Off the Press
Lexy Timms"This is what really happened… reported by a free press, for a free people…" Wes Shaw leads a secret double life. As the secret owner of a billion dollar newspap...
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Little Women
Louisa May AlcottAn Apple Books Classic edition. Meet the Marches! Louisa May Alcott’s classic introduces us to four unforgettable sisters: beautiful Meg, tomboyish Jo, delicate Beth, and Amy, the ...
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Awaken Me
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Law of Attraction
Jordan HollisHow to Finally Overcome the Hurdles of Manifesting Proven, effective and enjoyable ways to help you manifest faster… Right now, think of something that makes you successful. If you...
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Caught Up with the Captain
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How to Choose a Guy in 10 Days
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Christmas in Sweetbriar Cove
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
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School of Potential
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Always Yours
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Alpha
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All Fired Up
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Tempting the King
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The Holy Bible - King James Version
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You Are Kind
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Enemies With Benefits
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The Great Gatsby
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Teach Me
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Saltwater Cove
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The Three Little Pigs
Mark LeskyClassic fairy tales, legends and folk stories in short version without violence retold with lovely illustrations in simple language. Perfect for reading aloud to small chi...
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Death at Hazel House
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Think and Grow Rich
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The Scarlet Letter
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The Seduction Series Boxset
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Finding Cinderella
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The Next Girl
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Escape, A New Life
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A Christmas Carol
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Silenced Girls
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Pride and Prejudice
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Rogue Alpha
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My Paper Heart
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Meditations
Emperor of Rome Marcus AureliusMeditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CE, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy.
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The Odyssey
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The Icing on the Cake
Linda SeedShe’s a baker without a kitchen. He’s got a double oven to spare. It’s a recipe for success, until his mother starts stirring up trouble … Cassie Jordan has a sweet dream to open a...
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A Green Kind of Witch
Sierra CrossCinderella crossed with Mean Girls.   That's what Hazel's daily existence feels like. Born to a family of elegant yet shallow Beige Witches, seventeen y...
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Silver Santa
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A Bookshop to Die For
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