Sherwood Anderson Popular Books

Sherwood Anderson Biography & Facts

Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and Elyria, Ohio. In 1912, Anderson had a nervous breakdown that led him to abandon his business and family to become a writer. At the time, he moved to Chicago and was eventually married three additional times. His most enduring work is the short-story sequence Winesburg, Ohio, which launched his career. Throughout the 1920s, Anderson published several short story collections, novels, memoirs, books of essays, and a book of poetry. Though his books sold reasonably well, Dark Laughter (1925), a novel inspired by Anderson's time in New Orleans during the 1920s, was his only bestseller. Early life Sherwood Berton Anderson was born on September 13, 1876, at 142 S. Lafayette Street in Camden, Ohio, a farming town with a population of around 650 (according to the 1870 census). He was the third of seven children born to Emma Jane (née Smith) and former Union soldier and harness-maker Irwin McLain Anderson. Considered reasonably well-off financially, Anderson's father was seen as an up-and-comer by his Camden contemporaries, but the family left town just before Sherwood's first birthday. Reasons for the departure are uncertain; most biographers note rumors of debts incurred by either Irwin or his brother Benjamin. The Andersons headed north to Caledonia by way of a brief stay in a village of a few hundred called Independence (now Butler). Four or five years were spent in Caledonia, years that formed Anderson's earliest memories. This period later inspired his semi-autobiographical novel Tar: A Midwest Childhood (1926). In Caledonia Anderson's father began drinking excessively, which led to financial difficulties, eventually causing the family to leave the town.With each move, Irwin Anderson's prospects dimmed; while in Camden he was the proprietor of a successful shop and could employ an assistant, but by the time the Andersons finally settled down in Clyde, Ohio, in 1884, Irwin could get work only as a hired man to harness manufacturers. That job was short-lived, and for the rest of Sherwood Anderson's childhood, his father barely supported the family as an occasional sign-painter and paperhanger, while his mother took in washing to make ends meet. Partly as a result of these misfortunes, young Sherwood became adept at finding various odd jobs to help his family, earning the nickname "Jobby".Though he was a decent student, Anderson's attendance at school declined as he began picking up work, and he finally left school for good at age 14 after about nine months of high school. From the time he began to cut school to the time he left town, Anderson worked as a "newsboy, errand boy, waterboy, cow-driver, stable groom, and perhaps printer's devil, not to mention assistant to Irwin Anderson, Sign Painter", in addition to assembling bicycles for the Elmore Manufacturing Company. Even in his teens, Anderson's talent for selling was evident, a talent he would later draw on in a successful career in advertising. As a newsboy he was said to have convinced a tired farmer in a saloon to buy two copies of the same evening paper. With the exception of work, Anderson's childhood resembled that of other boys his age.In addition to participating in local events and spending time with his friends, Anderson was a voracious reader. Though there were only a few books in the Anderson home, the youth read widely by borrowing from the school library (there was not a public library in Clyde until 1903), and the personal libraries of a school superintendent and of John Tichenor, a local artist, who responded to Anderson's interest.By Anderson's 18th year in 1895, his family was on shaky ground. His father had started to disappear for weeks. Two years earlier, in 1893, Karl, Sherwood's elder brother, had left Clyde for Chicago. On May 10, 1895, his mother succumbed to tuberculosis. Sherwood, now essentially on his own, boarded at the Harvey & Yetter's livery stable where he worked as a groom—an experience that would translate into several of his best-known stories. (Irwin Anderson died in 1919 after having been estranged from his son for two decades.) Two months before his mother's death, in March 1895, Anderson had signed up with the Ohio National Guard for a five-year hitch, while he was going steady with Bertha Baynes, an attractive girl and possibly the inspiration for Helen White in Winesburg, Ohio, and he was working a secure job at the bicycle factory. But his mother's death precipitated his leaving Clyde. He settled in Chicago around late 1896 or the spring or summer of 1897, having worked a few small-town factory jobs along the way. Chicago and war Anderson moved to a boardinghouse in Chicago owned by a former mayor of Clyde. His brother Karl lived in the city and was studying at the Art Institute. Anderson moved in with him and quickly found a job at a cold-storage plant. In late 1897, Karl moved away, and Anderson relocated to a two-room flat with his sister and two younger brothers newly come from Clyde. Money was tight—Anderson earned "two dollars for a day of ten hours"— but with occasional support from Karl, they got by. Following the example of his Clyde confederate and lifelong friend Cliff Paden (later to become known as John Emerson) and Karl, Anderson took up the idea of furthering his education by enrolling in night school at the Lewis Institute. He attended several classes regularly including "New Business Arithmetic" earning marks that placed him second in the class. It was also there that Anderson heard lectures on Robert Browning and was possibly first introduced to the poetry of Walt Whitman. Soon, however, Anderson's first stint in Chicago would come to an end as the United States prepared to enter the Spanish–American War. Although he had limited resources while in Chicago, Anderson bought a new suit and returned to Clyde to join the military. Once home, the company he joined mustered into the army at Camp Bushnell, Ohio on May 12, 1898. Several months of training followed at various southern encampments until early in 1899, when his company was sent to Cuba. Fighting had ceased four months prior to their arrival. On April 21, 1899, they left Cuba having seen no combat. According to Irving Howe, "Sherwood was popular among his army comrades, who remembered him as a fellow given to prolonged reading, mostly in dime westerns and historical romances, and talented at finding a girl when he wanted one. For the first of these traits he was frequently teased, but the second brought him the respect it usually does in armies."After the war, Anderson resided briefly in Clyde performing agricultural work before deciding to return to school. In September 1899 Anderson joined his siblings Karl and Stella in Springfield, Ohio where, at the ag.... Discover the Sherwood Anderson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sherwood Anderson books.

Best Seller Sherwood Anderson Books of 2024

  • Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles synopsis, comments

    Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles

    William Spratling & William Faulkner

    “When Bill Faulkner came to New Orleans he was a skinny little guy, three years older than I, and was not taken very seriously except by a few of us.” Thus the late William Spratli...

  • Poor White synopsis, comments

    Poor White

    Sherwood Anderson

    Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and selfrevealing works. Selfeducated, he rose to becom...

  • The Graybar Hotel synopsis, comments

    The Graybar Hotel

    Curtis Dawkins

    In this “toughly courageous, unflinching, and unapologetic” (O, The Oprah Magazine) debut collection, Curtis Dawkins, an MFA graduate and convicted murderer serving life without pa...

  • From Under the Overcoat synopsis, comments

    From Under the Overcoat

    Sue Orr

    A prizewinning collection of vivid, accessible stories. These fresh, contemporary stories can be read purely for the immense pleasure they offer. However, the stories can also be ...

  • Triumph of the Egg and Other Stories synopsis, comments

    Triumph of the Egg and Other Stories

    Sherwood Anderson

    Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and selfrevealing works. Selfeducated, he rose to becom...

  • The Wettest County in the World synopsis, comments

    The Wettest County in the World

    Matt Bondurant

    The inspiration for the major motion picture LawlessBased on the true story of Matt Bondurant’s grandfather and two granduncles, The Wettest County in the World is a gripping and g...

  • Cane synopsis, comments

    Cane

    Jean Toomer & George B. Hutchinson

    The Harlem Renaissance writer's innovative and groundbreaking novel depicting African American life in the South and North, with a foreword by National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 h...

  • The Sherwood Anderson Collection synopsis, comments

    The Sherwood Anderson Collection

    Sherwood Anderson

    Karpathos publishes the greatest works of history's greatest authors and collects them to make it easy and affordable for readers to have them all at the push of a button.  Al...

  • A New Book of the Grotesques synopsis, comments

    A New Book of the Grotesques

    Robert Dunne

    This book is the first extensive treatment of Sherwood Anderson's work from a postmodern perspective. It does not challenge previous studies of Anderson as much as it looks at ...

  • The Torrents of Spring synopsis, comments

    The Torrents of Spring

    Ernest Hemingway

    An early gem of satire and humor from the greatest American writer of the twentieth century.First published in 1926, The Torrents of Spring is a hilarious parody of the Chicago sch...

  • Breakdown synopsis, comments

    Breakdown

    Will Schuck

    Best known as the author of Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson made his decision to become a writer after two failures in the local manufacturing industry in the early 1900s. Schuc...

  • Sacred Land synopsis, comments

    Sacred Land

    Phillip E. Myers

    From the 1910s through the 1930s, Midwestern writers were conspicuously prominent in American literary life. A generation of writers from the Midwest had come of age and had shared...

  • Mosquitoes synopsis, comments

    Mosquitoes

    William Faulkner

    “Full of the kind of swift and lusty writing that comes from a healthy, fresh pen.”Lillian Hellman, New York Herald Tribune A fascinating glimpse of the author as a young artist, F...

  • 7 best short stories by Sherwood Anderson synopsis, comments

    7 best short stories by Sherwood Anderson

    Sherwood Anderson & August Nemo

    Sherwood Anderson's prose style was based on everyday speech. Anderson was also one of the first American authors to introduce new insights from psychology, based on Freudian A...

  • Lawless synopsis, comments

    Lawless

    Matt Bondurant

    With a Foreword by Director John HillcoatBased on the true story of Matt Bondurant’s grandfather and two granduncles, Lawless is a gripping tale of brotherhood, greed, and murder. ...

  • Winesburg, Ohio synopsis, comments

    Winesburg, Ohio

    Sherwood Anderson

    Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time"Here [is] a new order of short story," said H.L. Mencken when Winesburg, Ohio was published in 1919. &...

  • Three Lives - The Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and the Gentle Lena synopsis, comments

    Three Lives - The Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and the Gentle Lena

    Gertrude Stein

    Three Lives is a 1909 work of fiction by American writer Gertrude Stein. It is split into three independent stories, all set in the fictional American town of Bridgepoint.The Good ...

  • Mosquitoes synopsis, comments

    Mosquitoes

    William Faulkner

    Faulkner's second novel is a highspirited satiric romp set on an illfated pleasure cruise out of New Orleans.Wealthy Mrs. Maurier, the widowed heiress of an old New Orleans family,...

  • Complete Ohio Life of Sherwood Anderson synopsis, comments

    Complete Ohio Life of Sherwood Anderson

    Sherwood Anderson

    An American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkne...

  • Winesburg, Ohio synopsis, comments

    Winesburg, Ohio

    Sherwood Anderson

    Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time'Here [is] a new order of short story,' said H. L. Mencken when Winesburg, Ohio was published in 1919. 'It i...

  • Winesburg, Ohio synopsis, comments

    Winesburg, Ohio

    Sherwood Anderson, Irving Howe & Dean Koontz

    Published in 1919, Winesburg, Ohio is Sherwood Anderson’s masterpiece, a work in which he achieved the goal to which he believed all true writers should aspire: to see and feel “al...

  • Many Marriages synopsis, comments

    Many Marriages

    Sherwood Anderson

    There was a man named Webster who lived in a town of twentyfive thousand people in the state of Wisconsin. He had a wife named Mary and a daughter named Jane and he was himself a f...

  • Essential Novelists - Susan Glaspell synopsis, comments

    Essential Novelists - Susan Glaspell

    Susan Glaspell & August Nemo

    Welcome to the Essential Novelists book series, were we present to you the best works of remarkable authors. For this book, the literary critic August Nemo has chosen the two most ...

  • Tender Buttons - Objects. Food. Rooms. synopsis, comments

    Tender Buttons - Objects. Food. Rooms.

    Gertrude Stein

    First published in 1909, Stein’s work Tender Buttons is a modernist classic and a wonderful example of her thoughtprovoking and highly original style of writing.Gertrude Stein (18...

  • Sherwood Anderson a bibliography synopsis, comments

    Sherwood Anderson a bibliography

    Kenneth A. Lohf & Eugene P. Sheehy

    Correspondence and some printed ephemera and reviews pertaining to Kenneth Lohf's work on the INDEX TO LITTLE MAGAZINES, INDEX TO THE LITTLE REVIEW, and bibliographies of Yvor Wint...

  • Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles synopsis, comments

    Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles

    William Spratling & William Faulkner

    A treasury of literary history featuring caricatures of bohemian life in 1920s New Orleans with captions by William Faulkner.After meeting in the French Quarter, Nobel Prize–winnin...

  • Strength in Stillness synopsis, comments

    Strength in Stillness

    Bob Roth

    Instant New York Times Bestseller A simple, straightforward exploration of Transcendental Meditation and its benefits from world authority Bob Roth.Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Seinfeld...

  • Scones and Scoundrels synopsis, comments

    Scones and Scoundrels

    Molly MacRae

    The new mystery in the Highland Bookshop series, bringing together a body outside a pub, a visiting author determined to find the killer, and a murderously good batch of scones . ....

  • Marching Men synopsis, comments

    Marching Men

    Sherwood Anderson

    Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and selfrevealing works. Selfeducated, he rose to becom...