Gilbert Morris (1929–2016) was an American author, Baptist minister and English professor who became one of the most prolific writers of Christian historical fiction. Born in Forrest City, Arkansas, he earned degrees in English and education before completing a doctorate at the University of Arkansas. After serving as a pastor and schoolteacher, he joined the faculty of Ouachita Baptist University in 1962. Morris began publishing fiction in the early 1980s and eventually wrote more than 200 books, sometimes collaborating with his children, Lynn and Alan Morris. His novels combine adventure, romance and family drama with explicitly Christian themes, often depicting flawed characters struggling to preserve or rediscover their faith during periods of social upheaval.
Morris’s largest historical sequence is the forty-volume House of Winslow series, which follows successive generations of one family from the voyage of the Mayflower through the American Revolution, Civil War, western expansion, world wars and other major episodes in American history. The Appomattox Saga concentrates on interconnected families during the Civil War, while the Wakefield Dynasty moves through English and European history from the Reformation onward. His other historical series include the American Century novels, the colonial-era Liberty Bell books, the western Jim Reno stories and the Cheney Duvall, M.D. series, co-written with Lynn Morris and centred on a pioneering female doctor. Morris also wrote standalone historical novels such as Edge of Honor, which won the 2001 Christy Award for North American historical fiction, and The Angel of Bastogne, set during the Second World War.