author
Bertram Benedict
1891–1978
An American author and editor with a strong interest in politics and public affairs, he wrote clear, argument-driven books and spent decades helping readers make sense of current events. His career moved from social work into journalism, publishing, and influential reviewing.
1 Audiobook
The express companies of the United States : a study of a public utility
by Bertram Benedict
About the author
Born in Baltimore in 1892, he graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1912 and began his working life as a social worker in Pittsburgh and Syracuse. That early experience with social questions seems to fit the concerns of his later writing, which often focused on politics, economics, and public life.
He went on to write and edit for a wide audience. In 1917 he joined the Bureau of National Literature, and among his books was The Larger Socialism (1921), a critique of socialism in the United States. Later, he built a long career with Editorial Research Reports, first working there in 1929, becoming a part owner in 1944, and leaving in 1959.
He was also known as a book reviewer for The New York Times Magazine. Altogether, his career suggests a writer who cared less about literary showmanship than about explaining ideas plainly and engaging seriously with the issues of his time.