It is the third novel by the author and the biggest and most important of his works. Herman Wouk served in the United States Navy on several ships similar to the Caine. He graduated in 1934 from Columbia College, where he edited the Jester and wrote Variety Shows. Thereafter, he served five years on Fred Allen's writing staff. Before the war, he was a dollar-a-year man in the Treasury Department's defense-bound radio station. He served four years in the Navy and was executive officer of the destroyer-minesweeper Southard. He wrote a movie about Navy-fliers, Slattery's Hurricane , which stemmed from research for THE CAINE MUTINY. The Pulitzer prize for Best Novel of 1951 was awarded to Mr. Wouk for THE CAINE MUTINY. The author, Herman Wouk, was a devoutly religious Jew. He was born May 27, 1915 in The Bronx. He was an American author best known for historical fiction. He wrote many other books, but this was the only one that became famous. Wouk died in his sleep at the age of 103 in his home in Palm Springs, California, on May 17, 2019, just 10 days shy of his 104th birthday.