MacKinlay Kantor (February 4, 1904 ? October 11, 1977),[1] born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several based on the American Civil War, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel Andersonville, about the Confederate prisoner of war camp.

During World War II, Kantor reported from London as a war correspondent for a Los Angeles newspaper. After flying with some bombing missions, he asked for and received training to operate the bomber's turret machine guns (this was illegal, as he was not in service). Kantor interviewed numerous wounded troops, whose thoughts and ideas inspired a later novel.

When Kantor interviewed US troops, many told him the only goal was to get home alive. He was reminded of the Protestant hymn: "When all my labors and trials are o're / And I am safe on that beautiful shore [Heaven], O that will be / Glory for me!" Kantor returned from the European theater of war on military air transport (MAT). After the war, the producer Samuel Goldwyn commissioned him to write a screenplay about veterans' returning home.[6] Kantor wrote a novel in blank verse, which was published as Glory for Me (1945).[7] After selling the movie rights to his novel, Kantor was disappointed that the film was released under the name The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and details of the story were changed by the screenwriter Robert Sherwood. Kantor was said to have lost his temper with Goldwyn and walked off the Hollywood lot. The first 15 seconds of the movie note that it is "based upon a novel by MacKinlay Kantor" but the novel's name was not told. His basic story had power, as the film was a commercial and critical success, winning seven Academy Awards.

There is no entry about the novel available on Wikipedia at this time, but here is a link to the film entry.