E. B. White
(1899–1985)

Known for his precise, direct style, Elwyn Brooks (E.B.) White is generally regarded as one of the most important American essayists of the twentieth century. In fact, White's work is still the standard against which the works of many of today's essayists are judged.

After growing up in Mount Vernon, New York, White attended Cornell University. There, he studied literature and served as the editor of the Cornell Daily Sun. Several years after his graduation, White joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine. His humorous, topical essays helped to establish The New Yorker as one of the nation's most successful general-interest magazines.

White produced essays for The New Yorker on a weekly basis until 1938. In these essays, many of which are collected in his books Every Day Is Saturday (1935) and Quo Vadimus? (1939), White used his talents as a humorist to explore numerous social and political themes. Influenced by the teachings of Henry David Thoreau, he strongly believed in individualism and simplicity. In an effort to simplify his own life, he bought a farmhouse in Maine and began spending much of his time there.

While continuing to contribute essays to The New Yorker and other magazines, White went on to produce many more collections of essays, including One Man's Meat (1942), The Second Tree From the Corner (1954), and the Points of My Compass (1962). He also wrote three popular books for children, Stuart Little (1945), Charlottes Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1971); he collaborated with his wife, Katharine, in compiling the popular anthology A Subtreasury of American Humor; and he published a book of letters, Letters of E. B. White, in 1976.

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