HOOPES, Roy 1922-

PERSONAL: Born May 17, 1922, in Salt Lake City, UT; son of Roy H. (a lawyer) and Lydia Hoopes; married; wife's name Cora; children: Spencer, Sallie, Tommy. Education: George Washington University, A.B., 1946, M.A., 1949. Politics: Democrat.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, research analyst, 1946-48; assistant world editor, Path-finder (magazine), 1949-52; Time, Inc., New York, NY, general promotion manager of Time-Life International, 1952-53; managing editor of High Fidelity, 1953-56, and Democratic Digest, 1956-61; National Geographic, Washington, DC, editor and writer, 1963-65; Washingtonian (magazine), Washington, DC, associate editor, 1965-66; worked for U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1967-73, and Newsday, 1973-74; freelance writer, 1974—.

MEMBER: Oral History Association, National Press Club (Washington, DC).

AWARDS, HONORS: Edgar Award for Cain: The Biography of James M. Cain.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Wit from Overseas, Avon (New York, NY), 1953.

(Editor) Building Your Record Library, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1958.

(Editor) The "High Fidelity" Reader, Hanover House, 1958.

The Complete Peace Corps Guide, introduction by R. Sargent Shriver, Dial (New York, NY), 1961, 4th edition, 1968.

The Steel Crisis: 72 Hours That Shook the Nation, John Day (New York, NY), 1962.

What the President Does All Day, John Day (New York, NY), 1962.

(Editor) State Colleges and Universities, Luce, 1962.

A Report on Fallout in Your Food, New American Library (New York, NY), 1962.

(Editor) The Peace Corps Experience, preface by Hubert H. Humphrey, C. N. Potter (New York, NY), 1968.

Getting with Politics: A Young Person's Guide to Political Action, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1968.

What a United States Senator Does, John Day (New York, NY), 1970.

(With son, Spencer Hoopes) What a Baseball Manager Does, John Day (New York, NY), 1970.

What a United States Congressman Does, John Day (New York, NY), 1972.

What a Pro Football Coach Does, John Day (New York, NY), 1972.

What a State Governor Does, John Day (New York, NY), 1973.

What the President of the United States Does, Harper (New York, NY), 1974.

(With Erwin C. Hargrove) The Presidency: A Question of Power, Educational Associates, 1975.

Americans Remember the Home Front: An Oral Narrative, Hawthorn Books, 1977, Berkley (New York, NY), 2002.

Primaries and Conventions, F. Watts (New York, NY), 1978.

Political Campaigning, F. Watts (New York, NY), 1979.

The Changing Vice-Presidency, Crowell (New York, NY), 1981.

(Editor) James M. Cain, The Baby in the Icebox and Other Short Fiction, Holt (New York, NY), 1981.

Cain: The Biography of James M. Cain, Holt (New York, NY), 1982.

(With William Fry) Paralegal Careers, Enslow Publications (Hillsdale, NJ), 1984.

(Editor) 60 Years of Journalism, Bowling Green University Popular Press (Bowling Green, OH), 1985.

Ralph Ingersoll: A Biography, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1985.

(Editor) Career in C Major and Other Fiction, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1986.

(Coauthor) Legal Careers and the Legal System, Enslow Publishers (Hillsdale, NJ), 1988.

(Coauthor) Everything You Need to Know about Building the Custom Home: How to Be Your Own General Contractor, Taylor Publishing (Dallas, TX), 1990.

(Coauthor) The Making of a Mormon Apostle: The Story of Rudger Clawson, Madison Books (Lanham, MD), 1990.

(Editor) The Life and Hard Times of the Late, Great Peter Potomac, Potomac Press (Washington, DC), 1994.

When the Stars Went to War: Hollywood and World War II, Random House (New York, NY), 1994.

Our Man in Washington, Forge (New York, NY), 2000.

A Watergate Tape, Forge (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to newspapers and magazines. Author of weekly newspaper column for several years under undisclosed pseudonym.

SIDELIGHTS: Roy Hoopes is a biographer, historian, and novelist, and the author of numerous books in each genre. Cain: The Biography of James M. Cain is a "meticulously researched biography" of the famed novelist, wrote Nora Johnson in the New York Times Book Review. Cain wrote special memoirs for Hoopes to use in the book, and allowed himself to be interviewed extensively. Paul Piazza commented in the Washington Post Book World, that "a more detailed and comprehensive chronicle of a man's life can hardly be imagined."

The author of such bestsellers as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce, Cain wrote for over forty years, producing short stories, screenplays, newspaper articles, and novels. His subject matter was often considered shocking—murder, infidelity, and crime—and revealed the dark emotions of his characters. As Herbert Gold stated in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, "Cain's observation of America is far more accurate than that of John Dos Passos, more realistic than that of [Ernest] Hemingway, not dosed with pomp and poesy, as was Thomas Wolfe's. Yet, among these contemporaries, he was barely taken seriously." Johnson concluded that "one hopes this careful book will lead to a revival of interest in a writer who not only keeps the palms damp and the pages turning but whose work rings as true now as it did the day it was written."

Among Hoopes's other books are When the Stars Went to War: Hollywood and World War II, which examines what Hollywood celebrities did during World War II, including entertaining the troops and making war pictures. Booklist's Ilene Cooper called it "a fascinating look at Hollywood at war."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Heritage, July-August, 1995, review of When the Stars Went to War: Hollywood and World War II, p. 94.

American History Illustrated, November, 1986, review of Ralph Ingersoll: A Biography, p. 7; September-October, 1990, review of The Making of a Mormon Apostle: The Story of Rudger Clawson, p. 20.

Barron's, March 3, 1986, Edmund P. Klein, review of Ralph Ingersoll, p. 80.

Booklist, December 15, 1994, review of When the Stars Went to War, p. 727.

Chicago Tribune Book World, October 10, 1982.

Entertainment Weekly, February 10, 1995, D. A. Ball, review of When the Stars Went to War, p. 62.

Journal of American History, December, 1987, Christopher P. Wilson, review of Ralph Ingersoll, p. 1086.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2002, review of A Watergate Tape, p. 370.

Library Journal, September 15, 1990, Bill Demo, review of Everything You Need to Know about Building the Custom Home: How to Be Your Own General Contractor, p. 70.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, July 25, 1982.

Nation, November 16, 1985, Casey Blake, review of Ralph Ingersoll, p. 515.

National Review, February 14, 1986, Arnold Beichman, review of Ralph Ingersoll, p. 50.

New York Times Book Review, November 28, 1982; November 17, 1985, Lester Bernstein, review of Ralph Ingersoll, p. 34.

Publishers Weekly, May 3, 1985, review of Ralph Ingersoll, p. 60; April 1, 2002, review of A Watergate Tape, p. 55.

Washington Post Book World, October 31, 1982.*