Publisher's Synopsis
Towne (1877-1949) was an American author, poet, editor and popular New York celebrity who had moved to that city from Kentucky with his family aged three. From 1901 he held various positions at the Smart Set, a new magazine for a sophisticated urban readership, becoming editor in 1904. This was the first of many important magazines he was to edit, including McClure's (1914-20) and Harper's Bazaar (1926-39). In addition to his editorial duties, Towne was a prolific writer, publishing many volumes of poetry, novels, plays, travel essays, memoirs and lyrics for musicals and operettas. Much of his work celebrates New York City and he was considered by many the quintessential New Yorker. From 1931-37 he wrote a column for the New York American, taught a poetry course at Columbia, and then in 1940 joined the touring company of the Broadway hit Life With Father. In 1945 he summed up his career with his autobiography, So Far, So Good. This work, subtitled The Human Side of What the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act Have Done to the United States, was first published in 1923, with two of its chapters having previously appeared as articles in the New York Times
