Illinois, from its glorious past to the present

John Allan Carpenter (born May 11, 1917 – May 11, 2003) was an American non-fiction author. He was a prolific writer with more than 225 books to his credit. By 1990, his four Enchantment series were approaching 10 million copies printed. Among his accomplishments is the founding of the national magazine The Teachers Digest. At the age of 21, he was the director of public relations for Popular Mechanics, a position he held for 19 years.