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VJ Books Presents Peter Benchley!

Author Peter BenchleyPeter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 _ February 11, 2006) was an American author best known for his novel, Jaws.

After graduating from college in 1961, Benchley travelled around the world for a year. The experience was told in his first book, a travel memoir titled Time and a Ticket. Following his return to America, Benchley spent six months reserve duty in the Marine Corps, and then became a reporter for The Washington Post. While dining at an inn in Nantucket, Benchley met Winifred "Wendy" Wesson, whom he married the following year, 1964. By then Benchley was in New York, working as television editor for Newsweek. In 1967 he became a speechwriter in the White House for President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Once Johnson's term ended in 1969, the Benchleys moved out of Washington, and lived in various states including Connecticut and New Jersey in 1970. Jaws was published in 1974. Benchley went on to publish numerous other novels and non-fiction works.

Benchley was a member of the National Council of Environmental Defense and a spokesman for its Oceans Program. He was also one of the founding board members of the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).

Peter Benchley Book List
Similar authors: Steve Alten, Greg Bear, Michael Crichton, James Rollins

White Shark
First Edition

White Shark by Peter Benchley

Beast
First Edition

Beast by Peter Benchley

Peter Benchley Bibliography


Fiction

  • Jaws - 1974
  • The Deep - 1976
  • The Island - 1979
  • The Girl of the Sea of Cortez - 1982
  • Q Clearance - 1986
  • Rummies - 1989
  • Beast - 1991
  • White Shark - 1994 (republished as Creature in 1997)

Non-Fiction

  • Time and a Ticket - 1964
  • Life's Tempo on Nantucket - 1970
  • Ocean Planet: Writings and Images of the Sea - 1994
  • Shark Trouble: True Stories About Sharks and the Sea - 2001
  • Shark!: True Stories and Lessons from the Deep - 2002
  • Shark Life: True Stories About Sharks and the Sea - 2005 (with Karen Wojtyla)

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