author
Thomas Beer
1889–1940
Best remembered for The Mauve Decade, this sharp, stylish American writer turned social history, biography, and fiction into lively portraits of an earlier age. His work blends wit, literary flair, and a strong feel for American culture at the turn of the century.
1 Audiobook
The Fair Rewards
by Thomas Beer
About the author
Thomas Beer was an American biographer, novelist, essayist, satirist, and short-story writer, born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on November 22, 1889. He graduated from Yale in 1911, later studied law at Columbia, and also served during World War I.
He is most often associated with The Mauve Decade (1926), a vivid and witty look at American life in the 1890s. He also wrote notable biographies of Stephen Crane and Mark Hanna, along with novels and shorter fiction, building a reputation as a polished observer of literary life and American manners.
Beer died on April 18, 1940. While he is not as widely read now as some of the figures he wrote about, his best work still stands out for its energy, style, and feel for the cultural atmosphere of another era.