William Allen White

The luck of Roaring Camp / Bret Harte Taking the blue ribbon at the county fair / Mary N. Murfree Ben and Judas / Maurice Thompson Among the corn-rows / Hamlin Garland Ellie's furnishing / Helen R. Martin The arrival of a true southern lady / Francis Hopkinson Smith On the Walpole road / Mary Wilkins Freeman At the 'Cadian ball / Kate Chopin The pearls of Loreto / Gertrude Atherton The windigo / Mary Hartwell Catherwood The girl at Duke's / James Weber Linn Love of life / Jack London By the rod of his wrath / William Allen White The making of a New Yorker / O. Henry A municipal report / O. Henry A local colorist / Annie Trumbull Slosson.

At the time of his death in 1944, William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, was a national celebrity, proclaimed one of the truly great Americans of his age. Life magazine called him "a living symbol of small-town simplicity and kindliness and common sense." During his career White had managed to expand his circle of influence far beyond Emporia Kansas to include most of the nation. By the end of his life he had become a nationally acclaimed journalist and author of biographies, novels, and short stories. He was also widely known for his shrewd commentary on contemporary events in the national media. An influential Republican political leader, he helped found the Progressive party and was a longtime advocate of social reform and individual rights. But what endeared him most to his contemporaries was that, in spite of national fame, he remained first and foremost a small-town newspaperman. First published posthumously in 1946, White's Autobiography was immediately hailed as a classic portrait, not simply of White himself, but of the men and women who transformed America from an agrarian society to a powerful industrial nation in the years before World War I.

Introduction, by W.A. White.--American policy and the war, by Quincy Wright.--Defense for America, by Charles Seymour.--Shall we go to war? By Barry Bingham.--American responsibility in the present crisis, by H.S. Coffin.--Free institutions and the war, by Grenville Clark.--Immediate aid to the allies, by J.B. Conant.--Does America deserve a miracle? By Mrs. D.W. Morrow.--The right and wrong of war, by Rt. Rev. Mgr. J.A. Ryan.--Democracy and the second world war, by F.P. Graham.--The isolation myth, by George Creel.--The war and the Pacific, by C.H. Rowell.--Defense today, by L.W. Douglas.--Aid the allies? By Rabbi S.S. Wise.--The allies are ourselves, by Rupert Hughes.--An estimate of the situation by the President of the United States [reprinted from a pamphlet entitled National defense issued by the American council for public affairs, Washington, D.C.].

Six stories about good, bad, cowardly, brave, and mischievous boys engaged in youthful pranks, tragedies, and triumphs.