David Grayson

Born in Lansing, Michigan, in 1870, he wrote under the name David Grayson, though his real name was Ray Stannard Baker. He began as a newspaper reporter and later became widely known for his journalism, especially his reporting on social and industrial issues during the Progressive Era.

As David Grayson, he published gentle, thoughtful books that offered readers a calmer, more personal voice than his magazine work. Those writings on everyday life, friendship, and contentment were hugely popular and gave him a lasting place with readers who loved reflective nonfiction.

He also wrote history and biography, including an authorized multi-volume life of Woodrow Wilson, and he received the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1940. Baker died in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1946, remembered as a writer who moved easily between public events and private reflection.