WEB Griffin

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WEB Griffin (actually William Edmund Butterworth III ; born November 10, 1929 in Newark , New Jersey ; † February 12, 2019 ) was an American writer .

He was the author of more than 250 books, particularly war and crime novels, with a total circulation of more than 50 million, which appeared in more than ten languages, including Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese and Hungarian. He wrote under various pseudonyms: WEB Griffin - Alex Baldwin, Webb Beech, Walter E. Blake, Jack Dugan, John Kevin Dugan, Eden Hughes, James McDouglas, Allison Mitchell, Edmund O. Scholefield, Blakely St. James, Patrick J. Williams . As WEB Griffin, he wrote 61 novels in seven series.

Griffin grew up in New York City and Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . The mother came from a Pennsylvania German family with a Hessian background. This led Griffin to a more nuanced assessment of the Germans and their country. In 1946 he joined the US Army and served, among other things, in a police unit for the US occupation forces in Germany . His work here brought him together with the family of the Hitler assassin Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg . In 1951 he studied at the Philipps University of Marburg (although it has not yet been made out in the register / matriculation lists), then he was called up again to take part in the Korean War. For his work as a war reporter and press officer, he was awarded the Expert Infantryman Badge . In 1953 he left active military service, most recently in the rank of sergeant .

Griffin's success did not become apparent until he was late in life, when he was over 50, in the genres typical for him of the military and later the police thriller. His literary breakthrough came in 1982 with the Brotherhood of War novel The Lieutenants . In this and in many of his other works he also met the mood of the American soldiers, his most loyal readers, which earned him the reputation of a "troubadour of the American serviceman" (The Washington Post) .

Griffin lived in Fairhope , Alabama , and at times also in Argentina (his wife is from there). This inspired him to pursue questions of recent Argentine history in his Honor Bound novels, such as Argentina's ambivalent relationship to the Axis powers during World War II and the tacitly tolerated immigration of Nazis, large and small, after the end of the war.

Publications (selection)

  • MASH
  • Soldier Saga, Brotherhood of War (novel series)
    • Lieuntnants, The Lieutenants
    • Captains, The Captains
    • Majors, The Majors
    • Colonels, The Colonels
    • Green Berets, The Berets
    • Generals, The Generals
    • The new generation, The New Breed
    • The Aviators, The Aviators
    • Special ops
  • The Corps (novel series)
    • Semper Fi
    • Call to Arms
    • Counterattack
    • Battleground
    • Line of Fire
    • Close Combat
    • Behind the lines
    • In Danger's Path
    • Under fire
    • Retreat, Hell!
  • Men at War (novel series)
    • The Last Heroes
    • The Secret Warriors
    • The Soldier Spies
    • The Fighting Agents
    • The saboteurs
    • The Double Agents
  • Honor Bound (novel series)
    • Honor Bound
    • Blood and Honor
    • Secret Honor
    • Death and Honor
    • The Honor of Spies
  • Badge of Honor (novel series)
    • Men in Blue
    • Special Operations
    • The Victim
    • The Witness
    • The assassin
    • The Murderers
    • The Investigators
    • Final Justice
    • The Traffickers
    • The vigilantes
  • By Order of the President (novel series)
    • By Order of the President
    • The hostage
    • The Hunters
    • The Shooters
    • Black Ops
    • The Outlaws
    • Covert Warriors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WEB Griffin: 1929-2019. In: penguinrandomhouse.com . February 15, 2019, accessed February 17, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Griffin, WEB
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Butterworth, William Edmund III (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 2019