J. C. Furnas (1905–2001)

J. C. Furnas, 1906 - 2001 J. C. Furnas was born in 1906 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended Harvard and received his degree from there. After college, Furnas spent a tour of duty in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war, Furnas began his now renowned writing career, contributing to such publications as The American Scholar, The New york Times, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Look, and Reader's Digest. Furnas is most well known for his article published in Reader's Digest entitled "...And Sudden Death." In it, he brought to light the need for for safe driving and inspired the auto industry to subsidize safety measures and for the Transportation Department to revise highway engineering. But even more famous than that article, which was the most widely circulated article ever written, was the undertaking of a three volume social history of the Americas. The volumes were to range from 1587 until 1945 and became one of the most comprehensive history projects. There were three volumes and between them they contained a half a million words. It took him thirteen years to write, but he finally finished them. The first covered the years form 1587 - 1914 and discussed the origins of America. The second dated from 1914 - 1929 and covered the stock market crash, temperance, the war and women's suffrage, among other things. The last volume included the years 1929 - 1945 and contained anecdotal material. Furnas also wrote his own biography, entitled "My Life in Writing: Memoirs of a Maverick," as well as produced the biography of actress Fanny Kemble in 1982 and the writer Robert Louis Stevenson in 1951. J. C. Furnas died on June 3, 2001 at his home in Stanton New Jersey at the age of 95. (Bowker Author Biography)

— biography from The Americans; a social history of the United States, 1587-1914

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