James Gould Cozzens, known for his detailed and realistic social novels, was born August 19, 1903, in Chicago. During his sophomore year at Harvard he wrote his first novel, Confusion, the success of which prompted him to leave college to write exclusively. He published a successful novella, S.S. San Pedro, in 1931. Guard of Honor (1948), an account of his life on an Air Force base, won the Pulitzer Prize. His most popular work was By Love Possessed (1957), which received the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He wrote other novels including The Last Adam (1933), Men and Brethren (1936), The Just and the Unjust (1942) and Morning, Noon and Night (1968). In 1964 he… published Children and Others, a short story collection. Cozens died August 9, 1978, in Florida.