author
Horace Herbert Smith
1868–1936
A newspaper reporter turned adventure writer, he drew on real-life danger, crime, and international intrigue to shape vivid nonfiction and historical storytelling. His books carry the pace of journalism and the flair of someone who had seen extraordinary events up close.
1 Audiobook
The war maker : Being the true story of Captain George B. Boynton
by Horace Herbert Smith
About the author
Born in Ontario, Canada, in 1868, Horace Herbert Smith built his career in newspapers before becoming an author. Accounts of his life consistently place him in reporting jobs across North America, including work in Iowa and Montana, and later in New York, where he moved into a broader literary career.
Smith is best known for energetic works rooted in real events and larger-than-life figures. Among the titles linked to him are The War Maker: Being the True Story of Captain George B. Boynton and A Captain Unafraid, both shaped by his interest in conflict, risk, and dramatic true stories. A later rediscovered manuscript, Hell With the Lid Off: Butte, Montana, also reflects his early experience as a reporter and his eye for fast-moving, rough-edged history.
He died in 1936 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Even in the small record that survives, he comes across as a writer who brought a reporter’s curiosity to every subject and preferred stories filled with action, strong characters, and the messy truth of real life.