author
b. 1866
Best known today for travel writing and practical civic instruction, this late-19th-century author wrote with a clear, instructive style shaped by public-minded concerns. His surviving books range from a detailed journey through Europe and the Near East to a guide on responsible citizenship.
Very little biographical information about this William Alexander Smith could be confirmed from reliable sources available online. Open Library lists him as an author born in 1866, and library records attribute works including From Occident to Orient and, with William Fisher Markwick, The True Citizen: How to Become One.
Those books suggest the range of his interests. From Occident to Orient records an extended tour through Europe, Egypt, the Holy Land, Asia Minor, and Greece, while The True Citizen points to an interest in moral education and civic life. Taken together, they present a writer drawn to both travel and the practical question of how people should live and participate in society.
Because firm details about his life were not readily verifiable, it is safest to remember him through the books themselves: informative, earnest works from the late 1800s that aimed to broaden readers' horizons and strengthen their sense of public responsibility.