Author Tom Clancy was born on April 12th 1947 in Baltimore, He and his parents, a mail carrier and a credit employee liveda normal life for all of Tom's childhood. After graduating from high schoolin Baltimore Clancy attended Loyola College in his hometown, where hemajored in English. Tom graduated from college in 1969 and soon thereafter married Wanda Thomas. Wanda was an insurance agency manager and turned Tom on to the business. (World Biography, 70)Although Clancy wanted a career in the military, he was denieddue to very poor eye sight. He became an insurance broker in the city ofBaltimore and then in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1973 Tom joined the O.F. Bowen Agency, and later became part owner in 1980. Throughouthis life Clancy maintained an interest in the armed forces. Tom researchedhis favorite aspects of the military and built up ideas for books in his mind during the 1970's. Throughout the seventies and up until he wrote his first book in 1984 he spent any and every extra minute writing. (World Biography, 70)Clancy's characters and settings have, for the most part varied frombook to book, besides taking place on a battle front somewhere. He haswritten many books, some fiction and some non-fiction. There is one main reoccurring character in the fiction novels, a man by the name of Jack Ryan.Ryan first appeared in The Hunt for Red October. Full name Jack PatrickRyan, he acts as the protagonist, or hero in all the books he shows up in.Clancy does a very good job of building onto Ryan's character throughoutthe many books he stars in.(Tom Clancy FAQ)Tom Clancy has a strong interest in the military, which he shows viahis writings. Clancy doesn't just make up stuff or guess when he puts it in his books, he does extensive research on everything before he writesa single word about it. Tom's many novels have the purpose of entertaining and spreading his great interest in the armed forces. He hasalso written educational books on certain ...
