Writer and journalist, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Daily News and for NBC. He established his reputation with the best-selling Inside Europe (1936), followed by a series of similar works in which first-hand material is blended with documentary information to present penetrating social and political studies. Other books include Death Be Not Proud (1949) and A Fragment of Autobiography (1962).
John Gunther (August 30, 1901 – May 29, 1970) was an American author whose success came primarily in the 1940s and 1950s with a series of popular sociopolitical works known as the "Inside" books.
Life and Works
Gunther grew up in Chicago and attended the University of Chicago where he was literary editor of the student paper.
From 1924 to 1936 Gunther was assigned to the London bureau of the Chicago Daily News.
Gunther's non-fiction works generally share the same title format: Inside Europe (1936), Inside Asia (1939), Inside Latin America (1940), Inside USA (1947), Inside Africa (1st edition 1955, reprinted 1957), Inside Europe Today (1961), Inside Australia and New Zealand (1972), and others.
About Inside Europe Gunther wrote, "This book has had a striking success all over the world.
In addition to his popular 'Inside' series, Gunther wrote eight novels and three biographies, most notably Bright Nemesis, The Troubled Midnight, and "Eisenhower", a biography of the famous general released in 1952, the year Eisenhower was elected President.
The book for which Gunther is best remembered today, however, does not deal with the intrigues of politics: Death Be Not Proud is the simple story of his son, Johnny, who died of a brain tumor at the age of 17.
Inside: The Biography of John Gunther by Ken Cuthbertson was released in 1992.
User Comments Add a comment…