William Dean Howells
(1837-1920)

The writer William Dean Howells was born in southern Ohio. His father was a controversial newspaper man who was an advocate of abolition. Howells worked at his father's print shop and published his first poem in 1852. While continuing to work as a reporter, he published literary pieces in recognized magazines of the day. He became an editor in 1858 and wrote his first novel in 1866. That year he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and became an editor of "The Atlantic Monthly" magazine. In 1881 Howells left the magazine to devote himself entirely to writing, producing thirty-six novels, twelve travel books, and numerous poems and essays during his prolific career. In 1886 he wrote "George Fuller: His Life and Works" as a tribute to the Deerfield, Massachusetts, artist who had died two years earlier. Among his most famous books are "The Undiscovered Country" (1880), "The Rise of Silas Lapham" (1885), and "A Traveller from Altruria" (1895). Howells had a remarkably modern style that continues to capture the attention of literary critics and writers.