Peter Lyon

Peter Lyon (1915-1996) was a New York-based free-lance writer and a veteran contributor to AMERICAN HERITAGE. His first book, Success Story: The Life and Times of S. S. McClure, is a biography of his late grandfather. Throughout his career Mr. Lyons served as President of the Radio Writers Guild and wrote many pieces for radio shows before publishing several well-received biographies.

Articles by this Author

Essay: One-way Ticket To Oblivion, Februrary 1968 | Vol. 19, No. 2

Is This Any Way To Ruin A Railroad?, Februrary 1968 | Vol. 19, No. 2

You bet it is, say the railway moguls, who in fifty years almost managed to get rid of the “passenger element.” Then a freshman senator derailed them with a plan to keep the clay coaches rolling

The Wild, Wild West, August 1960 | Vol. 11, No. 5

In this never-never land, the superhero is the gun slinger, the man who can draw fastest and shoot straightest.

The Fearless Frogman, April 1960 | Vol. 11, No. 3

It was thirty miles offshore, and stormy, but the daredevil swimmer plunged into the Atlantic with a crisp “Goodnight, ladies and gentlemen!” Our author recalls bold Captain Boyton, a mixture of Jules Verne, Tom Swift, and a bit of Walter Mitty.

The Honest Man, February 1959 | Vol. 10, No. 2

In a day of rampant money-making, gentle Peter Cooper was not only a reformer but successful, widely loved, and rich.

Isaac Singer And His Wonderful Sewing Machine, October 1958 | Vol. 9, No. 6

An erratic genius and his sober-sided partner made their product a household necessity and built fortunes which their numerous progeny have spent in ways both beneficent and bizarre

The Master Showman Of Coney Island, June 1958 | Vol. 9, No. 4

On the theory that the greatest show is people, George Tilyou turned a rich man’s resort into a playground for the masses

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Ambrose, Stephen E.

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