Kyle Elihu Onstott (January 12, 1887 – June 3, 1966) was an American novelist, known for his best-selling novel '' Mandingo'' (1957). It was set in the antebellum South, in the 1830s at a fictional Alabama plantation. The book was adapted as a 1961

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and a 1975 feature

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

of the same name.

Biography

Born and raised in Illinois, by the early 1900s Onstott lived with his widowed mother in California. He was a dog breeder and served as a judge in regional dog shows. A lifelong bachelor, at age 40, he adopted a 23-year-old college student, Philip, who had lost his own parents. After Philip married Vicky, the couple remained close to Onstott for the rest of his life. Onstott dedicated ''Mandingo'' to Philip and Vicky. Onstott began writing ''Mandingo'' when he was 65 years old. He had collaborated with Philip on a book about dog breeding but hoped to make more money with a novel. He based certain events on what he said were "bizarre legends" he heard while growing up: tales of slave breeding and abuse of slaves. "Utilizing his doptedson's

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

research on

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, he handwrote ''Mandingo'' and his son served as editor. Denlinger's, a small

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

publisher, released it and it became a national sensation." He was invited to write an article for '' True: The Man's Magazine'' in 1959 about the horrors of slavery. A sequel and a series of other novels followed, mostly written with Lance Horner. The usual setting of their work was plantations and the lives of enslaved African Americans and planters in the antebellum South. They also wrote the 1966 novel ''Child of the Sun,'' recounting the scandalous reign of homosexual Roman emperor

Elagabalus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus ( ) and Heliogabalus ( ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short r ...

Works

* ''Beekeeping as a Hobby'' (1941)Beekeeping as a hobby
''worldcat.org''. Retrieved 2024-02-09 * ''The New Art of Breeding Better Dogs'' (1962, with Philip Onstott) * '' Mandingo'' (1957) * ''The Black Sun'' * ''Child of the Sun'' (with Lance Horner) * ''Falconhurst Fancy'' * ''Flight to Falconhurst'' * ''Master of Falconhurst'' * ''The Tattooed Rood'' * ''Drum'' (1962) * ''Strange Harvest'' (with Ashley Carter)

References

External links

* 1966 deaths 1887 births Novelists from Illinois 20th-century American novelists American historical novelists American male novelists Dog breeders People from Du Quoin, Illinois 20th-century American male writers {{US-novelist-1880s-stub