author
Thomas Beer
1889–1940
A sharp-eyed American man of letters, he wrote biographies, fiction, and essays, but is best remembered for his lively take on American culture in the 1890s. His work mixes social history with wit, making the past feel close and oddly modern.
1 Audiobook
The Fair Rewards
by Thomas Beer
About the author
Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1889, he grew up to become an American biographer, novelist, essayist, satirist, and short-story writer. He graduated from Yale in 1911 and later studied law at Columbia, though literature became his real field.
His best-known books include The Mauve Decade (1926), a vivid portrait of American life at the end of the nineteenth century, along with biographies of Stephen Crane and Mark Hanna. He also wrote novels and shorter fiction, building a reputation for style, intelligence, and a strong feel for American manners.
He died in New York in 1940. A suitable verified portrait image could not be confirmed from the sources available here, so no profile image is included.