M. R. (Morris Robert) Werner

Before building his reputation as an author, he lived an unusually wide-ranging life. New York Public Library records describe him as a journalist and writer in history, biography, and current events who had worked as a sales agent for chemical dyes in China, then as a foreign correspondent for a British newspaper and for the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune.

He became known for lively, revisionist studies of well-known American subjects. Reference sources and library records link him to books including Barnum (1923), Brigham Young (1925), Tammany Hall (1928), and Bryan (1929), showing a clear interest in larger-than-life personalities and the stories nations tell about them.

He also wrote for magazines and remained closely interested in New York history. American Heritage notes that he contributed frequently to The New Yorker and worked with Fiorello La Guardia during the last months of La Guardia’s life on research for a planned autobiography. NYPL records add that he lived in New York City for many years.