Peter Rabe
Peter Rabe was a German-born American author and psychologist, born in 1921 and arriving in the United States as a refugee in 1928. After obtaining a doctoral degree in psychology from Queens College, he transitioned into writing, particularly during a time when paperback publications were gaining popularity. Rabe's literary contributions largely focused on crime and gangster themes, with his works often published under the Fawcett Gold Medal imprint. Notably, his prominent series character, Daniel Port, navigates the challenges of gang life, beginning with the novel "Dig My Grave Deep" in 1956. Rabe also explored espionage in his books, influenced by the Cold War context and drawing comparisons to other notable authors like Eric Ambler. Despite the acclaim from peers such as Mickey Spillane, Rabe's work did not achieve the same level of recognition, likely due to its initial paperback format. Later in life, he returned to academia, teaching psychology in California, and authored a book on the subject. Rabe passed away in 1990, leaving behind a legacy of intense and serious narratives that delve into the complexities of crime and identity.
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Peter Rabe
Writer
- Born: 1921
- Birthplace: Germany
- Died: 1990
- Place of death: Atascadero, California
Biography
Born in Germany in 1921, Peter Rabe came to the United States as a refugee in 1928. He received a doctoral degree in psychology from Queens College in New York and worked as a psychologist before beginning his writing career. His interest in writing and his ability to create brutal, violent portraits of gangsters’ lives emerged just as an innovation in publishing created a need for books with his topics and style.
While paperback reprint publishing was not new and in fact had flourished during World War II, Fawcett Publications in 1950 began to publish works not previously available in hard cover. These original works paid well, and the series attracted some top crime writers, mostly of the hard-boiled detective school. The paperbacks, in turn, helped create a market for the type of writing that Rabe mastered. Most of his early work appeared under the Fawcett Gold Medal imprint. Rabe’s work is sometimes listed as crime and detective fiction, but most of his books deal with gangsters and espionage, although he did write some novelizations of the Mannix television series. Fawcett’s paperbacks were written by various authors under the house pseudonym J. T. MacCargo; Rabe’s contributions include A Fine Day for Dying (1975) and Round Trip to Nowhere(1975).
The early works, which made his reputation, are primarily intense and serious studies of gang life. Rabe’s series character is Daniel Port, whose adventures begin with Dig My Grave Deep (1956). Port is a gangster attempting to escape from involvement with a Midwest syndicate. Some later novels show Port’s attempts to help others escape from similar ties. In A Shroud for Jesso (1955), Rabe depicts a gangster who accidentally becomes involved in spying, and he later wrote a series of espionage novels featuring hero Manny De Witt, an attorney for an international corporation. The Cold War and increasing tensions in the Middle East helped create a market for books about spies. Rabe’s espionage novels combined action and humor in the tradition of author Eric Ambler. Rabe also wrote two Mafia novels, War of the Dons (1972) and Black Mafia (1974), at a time when director Francis Ford Coppola’s motion pictures The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974) dominated screen entertainment.
Rabe’s works have been highly praised by such writers as Mickey Spillane and Bill Crider. However, Rabe’s works never received the attention awarded Spillane and Ambler, probably because his books were first published as paperbacks. As his writing career waned, Rabe taught psychology in California. He also published in that field; Psychotherapy from the Center: A Humanistic View of Change and of Growth, written with Rahe B. Corlis, appeared in 1969. Rabe died in 1990.