Young, Perry Deane

Perry Deane Young, journalist, author, and playwright, was born 27 March 1941, in Woodfin, N.C. Young has worked for many North Carolina newspapers and international publications, covered the Vietnam War for United Press International, and written several non-fiction books.

Perry Deane Young, journalist, author, and playwright, was born 27 March 1941, in Woodfin, N.C. His mother, Rheba Maphry Tipton Young, later married Olin Stanton. Young attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1959 to the early 1960s, but left before graduating. He returned in the 1990s and graduated in 1994. In the 1960s, Young served in the military and wrote for many different newspapers in North Carolina. In January 1968, he was sent by United Press International to Vietnam to cover the Vietnam War. Since then, he has had many articles and columns published in an assortment of publications and has written several non-fiction books.

Young's first book, Two of the Missing, published in 1975, is a memoir of life during the Vietnam War and the disappearance of two of his friends, photojournalists Sean Flynn and Dana Stone, who were captured in 1970. In 1977, Young co-wrote The David Kopay Story with David Kopay, a homosexual professional football player. God’s Bullies, Native Reflections on Preachers and Politics was published in 1982. A Killing Cure, published in 1985 and cowritten by Evelyn Walker, is the story of Evelyn Walker's malpractice suit against an abusive psychotherapist. Young has also written plays and other non-fiction books. He was a columnist for the Chapel Hill Herald from 1996 to 2003 and wrote columns for The Independent in Durham, N.C.