author
Barton Wood Currie
1877–1962
A prolific early 20th-century journalist and editor, he moved easily from newspaper reporting to magazine publishing while also writing fiction and nonfiction of his own. His career touched everything from polar exploration news to farming, household magazines, and literary scholarship.
1 Audiobook
Officer 666
by Barton Wood Currie, Augustin McHugh
About the author
Born in New York City on March 8, 1877, Barton Wood Currie built a wide-ranging career as an American journalist, author, editor, and book collector. He wrote hundreds of articles and stories for publications including the New York Evening World, the New York Evening Sun, Harper's Weekly, and Good Housekeeping, developing a reputation for lively, versatile writing.
Currie also held important editorial roles. He worked with The Country Gentleman and Ladies' Home Journal, later became editor of World's Work, and eventually served as an editor at Doubleday, Doran. One especially memorable assignment came in 1909, when he was sent to Labrador to meet Robert Peary returning from the Arctic and report on the Cook-Peary controversy.
Alongside journalism and editing, he published books of his own, including fiction such as Officer 666 and nonfiction works like The Devil's Lottery and The Hungry Years. He died on May 7, 1962, leaving behind the record of a writer who was deeply involved in American magazine culture during a period of huge change.