James Norman Hall

Born in Colfax, Iowa, in 1887, he became known as a writer whose real life was nearly as eventful as his novels. During World War I he served with British forces, then with the French air service, and later with the United States, experiences that fed into his memoirs and fiction.

He wrote poetry, travel writing, memoir, and novels, but his lasting fame came from his partnership with Charles Nordhoff. Together they wrote Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, and Pitcairn's Island, as well as other popular adventure novels set in the Pacific.

Hall eventually made his home in Tahiti, and the islands remained central to both his life and work. He died in Papeete in 1951, leaving behind books that helped fix the romance and danger of the South Seas in many readers' imaginations.