Milton Meltzer was an American historian and author best known for his history nonfiction books on Jewish, African-American and American history. Since the 1950s, he was a leading author of history books in the children's literature and young adult literature genres, having written more than 100 books. Meltzer was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to Benjamin and Mary Meltzer, semi-literate immigrants from Austria-Hungary. One of three sons, Meltzer was the only child to graduate high school, furthering his education at Columbia University from 1932 to 1936, he had to drop out of college... before graduating to support his family after his father died of cancer. Meltzer became a writer for the Works Project Administration, a program designed by the Federal Government to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed during the Great Depression. Meltzer wed Hilda "Hildy" Balinky on June 22, 1941. After serving in the Army during World War II, Meltzer was a writer for the CBS radio broadcasting network and later a public relations executive for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
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