author
Nathan Dane Urner
1839–1893
A lively 19th-century newspaperman and humorist, he turned sharp observation into satire, spoofing social ambition with a wink. His writing moves easily between journalism, verse, and sensational fiction.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Cincinnati on January 12, 1839, Nathan Dane Urner was an American journalist and writer who wanted to be in newspapers from childhood. According to a biographical entry from Northern Illinois University, he even produced a handwritten one-copy weekly as a boy before leaving school in his teens, working in stores, and spending time traveling in the West.
Urner later became private secretary to Horace Greeley in 1862 and then a reporter for the New York Tribune. He briefly served as the paper’s city editor, and other literary sources describe him as an editor, poet, journalist, and short-story writer whose work appeared in publications such as The Independent, Scribner’s, and Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly.
He also wrote fiction and satire under his own name and, at times, under the pseudonym Burke Brentford. Today he is best remembered for books such as Never and Stop!, both playful, sharply comic takes on manners, morals, and social pretension. Urner died in Brooklyn on February 19, 1893.