George, Peter

(c. 1925–1966)

   Author Peter George wrote RED ALERT (1958; published in Britain as: Two Hours to Doom under the pseudonym Peter Bryant), the source novel for DR. STRANGELOVE, OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964). He coauthored the screen adaptation along with STANLEY KUBRICK and TERRY SOUTHERN, and he is also credited with the 1964 novelization, also entitled Dr. Strangelove. However, there has been some speculation that George had little to do with either the screenplay or the novelization. George had been a pilot for the Royal Air Force during World War II, as well as a British intelligence agent, and he brought that experience to bear in the exacting detail of Red Alert, which often gets bogged down in technical and procedural descriptions. George’s book is a serious treatment of one of his major concerns: the possibility that nuclear war could be started accidentally. The book lacks the edge of dark comedy that Kubrick and Southern brought to the film.

   On the heels of the success of Dr. Strangelove, George wrote a sequel to Red Alert in 1965, called Commander-1. It examines the struggle for power between the major nations that have survived a nuclear war started by Communist China. Peter George’s seven other books, all written under pseudonyms, are mostly crime and mystery novels. They include The Big H and Hong Kong Kill. George once said, “If you learn how to construct a mystery, you learn how to write. ”

   References

   ■ “Peter George, 41, British Novelist” (obituary), New York Times, June 3, 1966;

   ■ Tibbetts, John C. , and James M. Welsh, eds. , The Encyclopedia of Novels into Film (New York: Facts On File) 1998.