author
Roy F. (Roy Floyd) Dibble
1887–1929
A biographer and literature professor, he wrote brisk, accessible lives of major historical figures and colorful American personalities. His work ranges from Mohammed and Martin Luther to the lively group portrait collection Strenuous Americans.
1 Audiobook
Mohammed
by Roy F. (Roy Floyd) Dibble
About the author
Born in Portland, New York, in 1887, Roy F. Dibble went on to study at Clark College and later earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University. His early scholarly work became Albion W. Tourgée, and he also taught English at Columbia before joining Hunter College as a professor of English literature.
Dibble focused on biography, writing about figures as different as John L. Sullivan, Martin Luther, and Mohammed. His 1923 book Strenuous Americans gathered vivid sketches of well-known U.S. personalities including Jesse James, Admiral Dewey, Frances Willard, P. T. Barnum, James J. Hill, Brigham Young, and Mark Hanna.
He died in New York City in 1929 at just 42. Though not widely remembered today, his books still offer a clear window into the early-20th-century taste for lively, character-driven history.