W.A. Swanberg
Encyclopedia
William Andrew Swanberg, (1907–1992), pen-name W.A. Swanberg, was a Pulitzer-Prize
-winning American biographer. He is perhaps best known for Citizen Hearst, his biography of William Randolph Hearst
. He was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1907 and earned his B.A. at the University of Minnesota
in 1930. He was a Guggenheim fellow
in 1960. He died of heart failure in Southbury, Connecticut
in 1992.
With grudging and only partial help from his father (who wanted his son to be a cabinet maker like himself), Swanberg obtained his degree only to find that employment as a journalist with the local dailies, the St. Paul Daily News or the Minneapolis Star, was not to be. Staffs at those papers were shrinking, not expanding and the new graduate instead was lucky to find a succession of low-paying manual labor jobs. After five years of this he followed a college friend of his to New York City in September of 1935. After months of anxious searching for a job his luck turned when he got an interview at the Dell Publishing Company
with George T. Delacorte Jr.
himself and was hired as an assistant editor of three low brow magazines. Money saved in the next months enabled him to return briefly to the mid-West to marry his college sweetheart, Dorothy Green, and bring her to New York. He soon began to climb up the editorial ladder at Dell. By 1939 he was doing well enough to buy a house in Connecticut and commute by rail to his office in the City.
When war came he was 34 years old with two children and a hearing disability. Rejected by the army, he enlisted in the Office of War Information in 1943 and after training was sent to England shortly after the D-Day invasion. There in London in the midst of the V-1 and V-2
attacks he prepared and edited pamphlets to be air-dropped behind enemy lines in France and later in Norway. With the end of the war he returned in October 1945 to Dell and the publishing world.
He did not return to magazine editing but instead did freelance work within and without Dell. By 1953 he began carving out time for researching his first book (Sickles) which was bought by Scribner’s beginning a long-term association. His early dream of newspaper work never became reality, but by the mid-1950’s he had found his métier, namely as a professional, scholarly biographer. But such biographies were labor intensive and took up to four years each even with the researching and transcribing help of his wife Dorothy. When he turned 80 in 1987 he figured he had done his last biography but old habits were hard to break and he got the itch to do just one more, this time on William Eugene “Pussyfoot” Johnson
(1862-1945). He was hard at work on that project when he succumbed at his typewriter on September 17, 1992. His papers are archived at Columbia University.
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about William Andre. Swanberg, OCLC
/WorldCat
encompasses roughly 30+ works in 100+ publications in 5 languages and 16,000+ library holdings.
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
The Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.-1910s:* 1917: Julia Ward Howe by Laura E...
-winning American biographer. He is perhaps best known for Citizen Hearst, his biography of William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
. He was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1907 and earned his B.A. at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1930. He was a Guggenheim fellow
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
in 1960. He died of heart failure in Southbury, Connecticut
Southbury, Connecticut
Southbury is a town located in western New Haven County, Connecticut, USA. Southbury is located north of Oxford and Newtown; it also is east of Brookfield. Southbury's population was 18,567 at the 2000 census....
in 1992.
With grudging and only partial help from his father (who wanted his son to be a cabinet maker like himself), Swanberg obtained his degree only to find that employment as a journalist with the local dailies, the St. Paul Daily News or the Minneapolis Star, was not to be. Staffs at those papers were shrinking, not expanding and the new graduate instead was lucky to find a succession of low-paying manual labor jobs. After five years of this he followed a college friend of his to New York City in September of 1935. After months of anxious searching for a job his luck turned when he got an interview at the Dell Publishing Company
Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr.During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in...
with George T. Delacorte Jr.
George T. Delacorte Jr.
George T. Delacorte, Jr., founded the Dell Publishing Company in 1921. His goal was to entertain readers who were not satisfied with the genteel publications available at the time. The company was one of the largest publishers of books, magazines, and comics during its heyday...
himself and was hired as an assistant editor of three low brow magazines. Money saved in the next months enabled him to return briefly to the mid-West to marry his college sweetheart, Dorothy Green, and bring her to New York. He soon began to climb up the editorial ladder at Dell. By 1939 he was doing well enough to buy a house in Connecticut and commute by rail to his office in the City.
When war came he was 34 years old with two children and a hearing disability. Rejected by the army, he enlisted in the Office of War Information in 1943 and after training was sent to England shortly after the D-Day invasion. There in London in the midst of the V-1 and V-2
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
attacks he prepared and edited pamphlets to be air-dropped behind enemy lines in France and later in Norway. With the end of the war he returned in October 1945 to Dell and the publishing world.
He did not return to magazine editing but instead did freelance work within and without Dell. By 1953 he began carving out time for researching his first book (Sickles) which was bought by Scribner’s beginning a long-term association. His early dream of newspaper work never became reality, but by the mid-1950’s he had found his métier, namely as a professional, scholarly biographer. But such biographies were labor intensive and took up to four years each even with the researching and transcribing help of his wife Dorothy. When he turned 80 in 1987 he figured he had done his last biography but old habits were hard to break and he got the itch to do just one more, this time on William Eugene “Pussyfoot” Johnson
William E. Johnson
William Eugene "Pussyfoot" Johnson was an American Prohibition advocate and law enforcement officer. In pursuit of his campaign to outlaw intoxicating beverages, he openly admitted to drinking liquor, bribery, and lying...
(1862-1945). He was hard at work on that project when he succumbed at his typewriter on September 17, 1992. His papers are archived at Columbia University.
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about William Andre. Swanberg, OCLC
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
/WorldCat
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...
encompasses roughly 30+ works in 100+ publications in 5 languages and 16,000+ library holdings.
- Sickles the Incredible, 1956
- First Blood: The Story of Ft. Sumter, 1957
- Jim Fisk: The Career of an Improbable Rascal, 1959
- Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hearst, 1961
- Dreiser, 1965
- 1967
- The Rector and the Rogue, 1969
- and His Empire, 1972
- Norman Thomas: The Last Idealist, 1976
- Father, Whitney Heiress, 1980
Literary Awards
- Christopher AwardChristopher AwardThe Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
and Minnesota Centennial Award for First Blood - Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau AlphaKappa Tau AlphaKappa Tau Alpha is an American college honor society which recognizes academic excellence and promotes scholarship in journalism and mass communication...
Award, 1961, for Citizen Hearst - In 1962 the Pulitzer board awarded the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in biography to Citizen Hearst. The trustees of Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, who administer the prize, overturned the award refusing to honor a book whose subject (William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
) cannot be regarded as an "eminent example of the biographer's art as specified in the prize definition." - Van Wyck Brooks Award for nonfiction, 1967
- Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize for Biography or AutobiographyThe Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.-1910s:* 1917: Julia Ward Howe by Laura E...
, 1973, for Luce and His Empire - National Book AwardNational Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
for biography, 1977, for Norman Thomas: The Last Idealist