Noel Bertram Gerson was an American author who wrote 325 books, including several best sellers, among them two screenplay novelizations penned under the pseudonym Samuel Edwards, The Naked Maja, and 55 Days at Peking. Aside from "Samuel Edwards", which would seem to have been his dedicated by-line for tie-in work, Gerson used the following nine pseudonyms in addition to his own name: Anne Marie Burgess; Michael Burgess; Nicholas Gorham; Paul Lewis; Leon Phillips; Donald Clayton Porter; Dana Fuller Ross; Philip Vail; and Carter A. Vaughan.
Life
He was the son of Sam Gerson, who directed the Shubert theaters in Chicago. Gerson attended the University of Chicago, and served as the campus correspondent for the Chicago Herald-Examiner. Following graduation, he became a reporter at the paper. He later joined Chicago-based WGN as a publicity writer, subsequently becoming its talent director and main scriptwriter. After his World War II military experience in Army intelligence, he began writing TV scripts before beginning his career as an author in 1950. He and his wife Marilyn had a son and three daughters.
Literary focus
Gerson's primary focus was on historical novels, mostly stand-alone, with American history receiving considerable attention. Of note, he wrote a number of historical novels about colonial America and also the United States in its formative years. Gerson also wrote a large number of biographies and biographical novels. These included several on U.S. presidents, such as Andrew Jackson, James Polk, and Theodore Roosevelt. Many of his biographic works also focused on notable women in history such as Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire; William the Conqueror's formidable wife, Matilda of Flanders; and Pocahantas. During the latter stages of his career, Gerson wrote two series of American historical novels having characters that continued through the series. Using the pen nameDana Fuller Ross, the first was the popular twenty-four book Wagons West series that began in 1978 and is currently being republished. The first four books in this series describe the initial wagon train to Oregon beginning in 1837. Beginning in 1979, Gerson initiated a second series called White Indian using the pen name of Donald Clayton Porter. Set in the late 1600s, it portrays the life of Renno, a child of settlers, who was raised by the Seneca to become a senior warrior.
