George Mandel (11 February 1920 – 13 February 2021) was an American author and artist. His first novel is considered to be an early work of the east coast Beat Generation.[1] His novels, interviews, novellas, cartoons and short stories have been carried by major publishing houses, print magazines and collections. He was also active as a comic artist.[2]
Mandel was a native of New York City.[1]
As a cartoonist, Mandel's inkings established the first masked female comicbook hero: The Woman in Red.[citation needed]
In 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.[3]
He was a member of the Gourmet Club with Mel Brooks,[4] and was friends with William Styron[5] and was a childhood friend of Joseph Heller.[6]
Mandel died New York City in February 2021, two days after turning 101.[7]
His first book, Flee the Angry Strangers (1952), was considered one of the first Beat novels.[1] His subsequent works include The Breakwater (1960), a coming-of-age novel and Proustian examination of pre-war Coney Island; a 1961 war novella Into the Woods of the World, and The Wax Boom (1962), a war novel. His novella Scapegoats (1970) is a commentary on New York City's racial tension and urban renewal. He further explored the theme in Crocodile Blood (1985), an epic about the rape of a native American Seminole and the rising complex of cultures across three generations in Florida. His early short story "The Beckoning Sea" was included in the 1958 anthology Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men.[8]
A darkly humorous piece, "Adjustments", appeared in a 1963 Alfred Hitchcock horror anthology[9] and short story "The Day the Time Changed" in a 1965 Saturday Evening Post. Also two cartoon books have been published: Beatville U.S.A. (1961) and Borderline Cases (1962).[citation needed]
The National World War II Museum added to its collection his essay "Men Weep," which he wrote in September 2014, when he was 94.[citation needed] It is an account of his service and his reaction to the Battle of the Bulge.[citation needed]