Jeremy Byman

Background

Jeremy Byman was born on February 26, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, to Leonard Byman and Eleanor Lesser Byman, a librarian.

Education

In 1965, Byman received an Associate degree in government and international relations from Carleton College. He also got a Master of Arts degree and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago in 1975. In 1982, Jeremy received a Master of Arts in cinema studies from New York University.

Career

Byman was a college teacher for many years worked as an assistant professor of political science at SUNY College, Illinois State University, and the University of North Carolina, and thought he would do that until he retired. But then he discovered that he was more interested in writing for general audiences than for scholarly ones, and started writing movie reviews and articles for local magazines, as well as advertising copy. Quite by accident, Jeremy met a publisher of books for young adults, who invited him to write a biography of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

So, Jeremy Byman began his career as a writer for young adults with a biography of the first female secretary of state in the United States history. His work was Madam Secretary: The Story of Madeleine Albright, where Byman recounts Albright’s life story, from her parents’ escape from Czechoslovakia during World War II, to her years as a student at a private girls’ school and at Wellesley College.

Madam Secretary was quickly followed by Ted Turner: Cable Television Tycoon, a biography of a man who turned his father’s billboard business into a huge media conglomerate including television and radio stations, a baseball team, and Cable News Network (CNN), which Turner created in 1980.

Another remarkable business entrepreneur was the subject of Byman’s next biography: Andrew Grove and the Intel Corporation. This work alternates chapters on Grove’s life story with those on the life of the company he created, Intel, which is credited with pioneering work in microprocessors that paved the way for the home computer revolution. Tim Duncan, a star in the National Basketball Association (NBA), is the subject of another Byman biography. Byman is also the author of Carl Sagan: In Contact with the Cosmos, a biography of one of the most famous scientists of the late twentieth century.

Byman also wrote J.P. Morgan: Banker to a Growing Nation, in which he makes clear why Morgan was both beloved and reviled during his lifetime, and Showdown at High Noon.

Achievements

• Jeremy Byman is known as the author of books for young adults and numerous film reviews for Triad Style magazine, and articles for local, regional, and national periodicals.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Andrew Grove and the Intel Corporation

    (Describes the life of Andrew Grove, the head of the world...)

    1999
  • Ted Turner: Cable Television Tycoon

    (A biography of the multimillionaire media pioneer, creato...)

    1998
  • Showdown at High Noon: Witch-Hunts, Critics, and the End of the Western

    (For more than fifty years, High Noon has been a touchston...)

    2002
  • J. P. Morgan: Banker to a Growing Nation

    (Profiles the American investment banker who lent money to...)

    2001
  • Carl Sagan: In Contact with the Cosmos 2000
  • Madam Secretary: The Story of Madeleine Albright 1997
  • Tim Duncan 2000

Views

Quotations: "I expect I’ll continue to do a bit of everything in the future - adult books, young adult, and magazines."

Connections

On December 29, 1968, Byman married Aline Sydney Faben, but they divorced on September 12, 1977. On May 22, 1993, Jeremy married Elizabeth Lynn Hamilton, a college instructor.

Father:

Leonard Byman

Mother:

Eleanor Lesser Byman

ex-wife:

Aline Sydney Faben

Wife:

Elizabeth Lynn Hamilton

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields In response to the escalating need for up-to-date information on writers, Contemporary Authors New Revision Series brings researchers the most recent data on the worlds most-popular authors.
  2010