George Jean Nathan

Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1882, George Jean Nathan became one of America’s best-known drama critics. He studied at Cornell University and built a long career writing about theater with a style that was famously incisive, skeptical, and entertaining.

Nathan was also an influential editor. He worked closely with H. L. Mencken on The Smart Set and later helped found and edit The American Mercury and The American Spectator, magazines that played a major role in American literary life.

Across decades of criticism, essays, and editorial work, he pushed for higher standards in the theater and became a prominent voice in cultural debate. He died in New York City in 1958, but his reputation as a bold, lively critic has lasted well beyond his era.