E. B. White | Author | LibraryThing

About the Author

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, E. B. White was educated at Cornell University and served as a private in World War I. After several years as a journalist, he joined the staff of the New Yorker, then in its infancy. For 11 years he wrote most of the "Talk of the Town" columns, and it was White and show more James Thurber who can be credited with setting the style and attitude of the magazine. In 1938 he retired to a saltwater farm in Maine, where he wrote essays regularly for Harper's Magazine under the title "One Man's Meat." Like Thoreau, White preferred the woods; he also resembled Thoreau in his impatience and indignation. White received several prizes: in 1960, the gold medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 1963, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award (he was honored along with Thornton Wilder and Edmund Wilson); and in 1978, a special Pulitzer Prize. His verse is original and witty but with serious undertones. His friend James Thurber described him as "a poet who loves to live half-hidden from the eye." Three of his books have become children's classics: Stuart Little (1945), about a mouse born into a human family, Charlotte's Web (1952), about a spider who befriends a lonely pig, and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970). Among his best-known and most widely used books is The Elements of Style (1959), a guide to grammar and rhetoric based on a text written by one of his professors at Cornell, William Strunk, which White revised and expanded. White was married to Katherine Angell, the first fiction editor of the New Yorker. (Bowker Author Biography) Elwyn Brooks White was born on July 11, 1899, in Mt. Vernon, New York. After graduating from Cornell University, he worked briefly for an advertising agency and as a newspaper reporter before joining the staff of The New Yorker magazine in 1927. As a columnist for The New Yorker and a contributor to Harper's Magazine, White established a reputation as a prose stylist of exceptional elegance, clarity and wit. His interests, as reflected in his writing, were numerous and varied; his essays touched on such wide-ranging subjects as politics, farm animals, and life in New York City. White married Katharine S. Angell in 1929. They had one son, and in 1957 the family left New York for a farm in North Brookline, Maine. Writings from The New Yorker, 1927-1976 is a compilation of columns and essays produced during White's long relationship with the magazine. One Man's Meat, published in 1942, is a collection of his writings for Harper's. White adapted a short guide to English grammar and usage, The Elements of Style, from a college text written by one of his professors at Cornell, William Strunk Jr. It has sold millions of copies since it was first published in 1959 and has become a cherished resource for guidance in writing. White also co-authored Is Sex Necessary? with the humorist James Thurber, a fellow staff member at The New Yorker. E.B. White died on October 1, 1985 after succumbing to Alzheimer's. His diverse legacy also includes three children's books: Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and The Trumpet of the Swan. In 1970 the American Library Association presented White the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in recognition of his "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and received a special Pulitzer Prize citation for his body of work in 1970. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: E.B.White, White E. B., ELWYN BROOKS WHITE, אלוין ברוקס ויט, Элвин Брукс Уайт

Works by E. B. White

Popular Recent

Charlotte's Web (1952) 36,333 copies

The Elements of Style (1959) 20,018 copies

Stuart Little (1945) 15,080 copies

The Trumpet of the Swan (1970) 11,796 copies

Charlotte's Web / Stuart Little / The Trumpet of the Swan (1993) 2,437 copies

The Elements of Style Illustrated (2005) 1,698 copies

Essays of E.B. White (1977) 1,523 copies

Here is New York (1949) 1,051 copies

One Man's Meat (1942) 834 copies

Is Sex Necessary?: Or Why You Feel the Way You Do (1929) 596 copies

Letters of E. B. White (1976) 497 copies

Onward and Upward in the Garden (1979) — Editor; Introduction — 485 copies

The Second Tree from the Corner (1954) 452 copies

Writings from The New Yorker 1927-1976 (1990) 330 copies

Poems & Sketches of E. B. White (1981) 282 copies

A Subtreasury of American Humor (1941) — Editor — 279 copies

The Points of My Compass: Letter from the East, the West, the North, the South (1961) 180 copies

Some Pig!: A Charlotte's Web Picture Book (2006) 149 copies

The Annotated Charlotte's Web (1750) 144 copies

On Democracy (2019) 85 copies

The Wild Flag: Editorials from The New Yorker on Federal World Government and Other Matters (1946) 43 copies

Charlotte's Web / Stuart Little (1957) — Author — 43 copies

Chickens, Gin, and a Maine Friendship: The Correspondence of E. B. White and Edmund Ware Smith (2020) 42 copies

Quo Vadimus or The Case for the Bicycle (1939) 40 copies

Song of the Morning: Easter Stories and Poems for Children (1997) 40 copies

Salutations!: Wit and Wisdom from Charlotte's Web (1999) 39 copies

Farewell to Model T and From Sea to Shining Sea (2003) 35 copies

Tela Charlottae/Charlotte's Web: Latin Edition (1991) 34 copies

An E. B. White Reader (1966) 29 copies

In the Words of E. B. White: Quotations from America's Most Companionable of Writers (2011) 23 copies

Wilbur's Adventure: A Charlotte's Web Picture Book (2007) 20 copies

Notes on Our Times (2007) 16 copies

Newbery Award Favorite Library 8 Book Box Set : Charlotte's Web, The One and Only Ivan, Ella Enchanted, Dragonwings (2020) — Contributor — 13 copies

Charlotte's Web: Movie Storybook (Charlotte's Web) (2006) 13 copies

On Kawara (2018) 12 copies

Letters and Essays of E.B. White (1979) 12 copies

Charlotte's Web 10 copies

The Moon 1968-1972 (2016) 10 copies

The Door 9 copies

Charlotte's Web ... E. B. White 1952 7 copies

THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE. WITH REVISIONS, AN INTROD., AND A CHAPTER ON WRITING BY E. B. WHITE (1972) 6 copies

Death of a Pig 6 copies

The Trumpet of the Swan Guided Reading Classroom Set (1987) 5 copies

White on White: Selections from the Works of E. B. White (1996) 5 copies

Every Day is Saturday (1934) 5 copies

Another Ho Hum: More Newsbreaks From "The New Yorker" (1932) 4 copies

The Lady is Cold and Other Poems (1929) 4 copies

The Trumpet of the Swan: Teachers Guide Grades 3-4 (1999) 4 copies

Once More to the Lake (2011) 4 copies

The Fox of Peapack and Other Poems (1938) 4 copies

Reading room 3 copies

Charlotte's Web (Scholastic Book Guides) (2003) 3 copies

W.Strunk.'s E. B. White's The Elements of Style (The Elements of Style: 50th Anniversary Edition… (2008) 3 copies

E. B. Classic White Story Collection (2014) 3 copies

Stuart Little 3 copies

Time Out for Books Guide - Mouse and the Motorcycle and Charlotte's Web 2 copies

The Elements of Reasoning 2 copies

The Points of My Compass 2 copies

Ho hum, newsbreaks from the New Yorker (1931) 2 copies

Writings from the "New Yorker", 1920s-70s by White, E. B. (1989) Paperback 2 copies

The Hour of Letdown 2 copies

Paul Bunyan, the Mightiest Logger of Them All 1 copy

The Fox of Peapack and other poems 1 copy

Another Ho Hum: More Newsbreaks from The New Yorker 1 copy

Ho Hum: Newsbreaks from The New Yorker 1 copy

Tela Di Carlotta 1 copy

The Yearling Gift Library For Girls Set 1: Charlotte's Web, Roller Skates, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Harriet the… 1 copy

The geese 1 copy

Irtnog 1 copy

Charlotte's Web- "DVD" Movie 1 copy

Less than Nothing - or The Life and Times of Sterling Finny 1 copy

Topics : our new countryman at the U.N. 1 copy

Cleopatra: The Life of an Egyptian Queen 1 copy

No Dummy 1 copy

Panza Charlottei 1 copy

Stuart Little - Abridged 1 copy

The tumpet of the swan 1 copy

A Guide for Using Stuart Little in the Schoolroom (1962) 1 copy

ORUMCEK AGI 1 copy

Les aventures de Narcisse 1 copy

La trompeta del cigne (2016) 1 copy

I Paint What I See: A Ballad of Artistic Integrity [poem] 1 copy

Stuart Little by E.B. White (1973-01-30) 1 copy

The Geese (Miniature book) 1 copy

Essays of E. B. White 1 copy

The Morning of the Day they Did It {short story} 1 copy

Letters of E. B. White 1 copy

Til Death Do Us Part 1 copy

Charlotte's Web Guided Reading Classroom Set (1980) 1 copy

Rare - Charlotte's Web & Other Classics by White Illustrated New Sealed Leather Bound (1777) 1 copy

Charlotte và Wilbur 1 copy

A Letter From E. B. White 1 copy

Charlottes tryllevev (2006) 1 copy

Stuart Little : Teacher's Guide 1 copy

Letters of E. B. White, Revised Edition 1 copy

Rare E B White / Here is New York 1st Edition 1949 [Hardcover] White, E. B 1 copy

The trumpet of the swan 1 copy

סטיוארט קטינא 1 copy

TheTrumpet of the Swan 1 copy

Charlotte koob võrku (2023) 1 copy

Qui New York 1 copy

Charlotte's Web - Book and DVD 1 copy

No title 1 copy

Children's Classic Audio Collection - 10 CDs 1 copy

HLe Iavventure di Stuart Little 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Best American Short Stories of the Century (2000) — Contributor — 1,568 copies

The Art of the Personal Essay (1994) — Contributor — 1,385 copies

50 Great Short Stories (1952) — Contributor — 1,266 copies

The Best American Essays of the Century (2000) — Contributor — 783 copies

Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from The New Yorker (2001) — Contributor — 713 copies

A Patriot's Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love (2003) — some editions — 495 copies

Charlotte's Web [1973 film] (1973) — Original book — 477 copies

American Gothic Tales (1996) — Contributor — 465 copies

The World of the Short Story: A 20th Century Collection (1986) — Contributor — 464 copies

Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorrow (1952) — Contributor — 441 copies

Reporting World War II Part One : American Journalism, 1938-1944 (1995) — Contributor — 439 copies

Fifty Great American Short Stories (1965) — Contributor — 438 copies

Charlotte's Web [2006 film] (2006) — Original Story — 419 copies

American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau (2008) — Contributor — 416 copies

Reporting World War II Part Two : American Journalism 1944-1946 (1995) — Contributor — 390 copies

The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel (1916) — Introduction, some editions — 373 copies

Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker (2000) — Contributor — 356 copies

A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Volume 2 (1959) — Contributor — 319 copies

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World's Literature (1961) — Contributor — 300 copies

A Treasury of Great Science Fiction [2-volume set] (1959) — Contributor — 295 copies

The Best of Modern Humor (1983) — Contributor — 291 copies

Writing New York: A Literary Anthology (1998) — Contributor — 281 copies

The 40s: The Story of a Decade (2014) — Contributor — 279 copies

It's Great To Be Eight (1997) — Contributor — 273 copies

Stuart Little [1999 film] (1999) — Original book — 265 copies

The 50 Funniest American Writers: An Anthology of Humor from Mark Twain to The Onion (2011) — Contributor — 247 copies

Russell Baker's Book of American Humor (1993) — Contributor — 208 copies

Short Stories from The New Yorker, 1925 to 1940 (1940) — Contributor — 202 copies

This Is My Best (1942) — Contributor — 188 copies

Eight Modern Essayists (1980) — some editions — 178 copies

Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic (1990) — Contributor — 153 copies

The Fireside Book of Dog Stories (1943) — Contributor — 146 copies

The Norton Book of Personal Essays (1997) — Contributor — 142 copies

American Wits: An Anthology of Light Verse (2003) — Contributor — 135 copies

The Big New Yorker Book of Cats (2013) — Contributor — 135 copies

An American Album: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Harper's Magazine (2000) — Contributor — 133 copies

The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities (1931) — Introduction, some editions — 108 copies

Winter: A Spiritual Biography of the Season (1986) — Contributor — 104 copies

The Trumpet of the Swan [2001 film] (2000) — Original book — 99 copies

Voices in Our Blood: America's Best on the Civil Rights Movement (2001) — Contributor — 92 copies

The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 83 copies

The Greatest Sailing Stories Ever Told: Twenty-Seven Unforgettable Stories (2002) — Contributor — 77 copies

Best in Children's Books 10A (1963) 65 copies

55 Short Stories from The New Yorker, 1940 to 1950 (1949) — Contributor — 59 copies

Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season (2004) — Contributor — 58 copies

Gentlemen, Scholars and Scoundrels: A Treasury of the Best of Harper's Magazine from 1850 to the Present (1959) — Contributor — 56 copies

Reading for Pleasure (1957) — Contributor — 51 copies

Charlotte's Web: A Full-Length Play (1983) — Original book — 50 copies

The Bedside Tales: A Gay Collection (1945) — Contributor — 46 copies

Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure [2003 film] (2003) — Original Story — 44 copies

A Quarto of Modern Literature (1935) — Contributor — 40 copies

Published and Perished: Memoria, Eulogies, and Remembrances of American Writers (2002) — Contributor — 37 copies

In Search of the Simple Life: American Voices, Past and Present (1986) — Contributor — 34 copies

Stories for Men (1938) — Contributor — 34 copies

The War: Stories of Life and Death from World War II (1999) — Contributor — 31 copies

A Book of Essays (1963) — Contributor — 26 copies

The Best of Both Worlds: An Anthology of Stories for All Ages (1968) — Contributor — 25 copies

The Looking Glass Book of Stories (1960) — Contributor — 21 copies

The Complete Stuart Little (3 Disc Box Set) (1999) — Writer — 15 copies

The Panorama of Modern Literature (1934) — Contributor — 14 copies

Favorite Animal Stories (1987) — Contributor — 13 copies

Tales for Males (1945) — Contributor — 11 copies

Charlotte's Web - 3 Movie Collection (Charlotte's Web/Charlotte's Web -Animation/Charlotte's Web 2 - Animation) (2012) — Original book — 10 copies

Ten Years of Holiday: Selected by the Editors of Holiday Magazine (1956) — Contributor — 8 copies

Wide-Angle Lens: Stories of Time and Space (1980) — Contributor — 8 copies

British and American Essays, 1905-1956 (1959) — Contributor — 7 copies

The bear went over the mountain (1964) — Contributor — 6 copies

Contemporary Short Stories: Representative Selections, Volume 3 — Contributor — 6 copies

The Fireside Treasury of Modern Humor (1963) — Contributor — 5 copies

Furrow's End: An Anthology of Great Farm Stories — Contributor — 2 copies

The Ethnic Image in Modern American Literature, 1900-1950 (1984) — Contributor — 1 copy

Contos Dramáticos — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (284) adventure (331) American (332) American literature (389) animals (1,829) anthology (1,245) chapter book (974) children (1,042) children's (1,810) children's books (352) children's fiction (471) children's literature (964) classic (1,263) classics (992) E.B. White (367) English (488) essays (1,724) fantasy (1,320) farm (682) fiction (4,911) friendship (1,068) grammar (965) humor (806) juvenile (318) language (657) literature (839) Newbery Honor (354) non-fiction (2,089) novel (388) own (393) pigs (849) read (705) reference (2,475) short stories (1,087) spider (334) spiders (482) style (383) to-read (1,379) writing (3,152) young adult (324)

Common Knowledge

Legal name: White, Elwyn Brooks
Birthdate: 1899-07-11
Date of death: 1985-10-01
Burial location: Brooklin Cemetery, Brooklin, Maine, USA
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Country (for map): USA
Birthplace: Mount Vernon, New York, USA
Place of death: North Brooklin, Maine, USA
Cause of death: Alzheimer's Disease
Places of residence: Seattle, Washington, USA
New York, New York, USA
Education: Cornell University (AB|1921)
Occupations: journalist
writer
Relationships: White, Katharine S. (spouse)
Angell, Roger (stepson)
Thurber, James (friend)
Strunk, William (mentor)
Organizations: Harper's Magazine
The New Yorker
United States Army
Awards and honors: Pulitzer Prize (Special Citation, 1978)
Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (1970)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (1962)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal (1960)

Members

Discussions

Thornwillow Charlotte’s Web in Fine Press Forum (October 2023)

October 2015: E.B. White in Monthly Author Reads (December 2017)

Reviews

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.

Orientado a la escritura en Inglés. Aconseja comenzando por la puntuación y después sobre expresiones y errores comunes a evitar, siempre sobre la redacción en Inglés.

Algunas elecciones son subjetivas y sin explicación. En puridad no es un libro de "estilo", más bien un mínimo opúsculo de puntuación y escritura.

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pbenavent | 192 other reviews | Jun 1, 2024 |

Charlotte's Web by E. B White

What can be said about this classic that hasn't been said before? I re-read Charlotte's Web as part of a reading challenge which included going back to read a childhood favorite (actually, I listened to the unabridged audiobook, which was excellent). I'm happy to say that Charlotte's Web stands the test of time.

Most everyone is by now familiar with the beautiful story of friendship and Fern, Charlotte, and Wilbur. What struck me going back to reflect on the passages as an adult was how E.B. White weaves his love of nature so beautifully throughout the book. There are too many examples to include, but I'll just include a few that really stuck with me.

In one scene, a character remarks, "When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the web itself is a miracle."

Also, "These autumn days will shorten and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas will come, then the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world...Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur -- this lovely world, these precious days..."

If you've never read Charlotte's Web, do yourself a favor an enjoy this beautiful book. If you have, read it again, or share it with a child.

… (more)

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jj24 | 1,026 other reviews | May 27, 2024 |

Charlotte's Web (HBDJ) by E.B. White

Writing: 4.5; Theme: 5.0; Content: 5.0; Language: 5.0; Overall: 4.5

When Wilbur (a pig) is told that his owner will end up turning him into bacon, a spider (Charlotte) helps build up the pig's name and reputation in order to change the perception of his owner. Highly recommend.

***May 25, 2024***

½

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jntjesussaves | 1,026 other reviews | May 25, 2024 |

Onward and Upward in the Garden (New York Review… by Katherine S. White

A passionate, engaging book about gardening. Katharine S White writes about gardening in Maine and other gardening topics with an exquisite sensibility and a compelling voice. I was very surprised by how engaging this book was, all due to the author and her skills.

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TomMcGreevy | 7 other reviews | May 15, 2024 |

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