William Andrew Johnston (1871–1929) was an American journalist, writer, and co-founder, with George T. Delacorte Jr., of

Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

Personal

Johnston was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

on January 26, 1871, the son of William Andrew and Agnes (Parry) Johnston. He graduated with a Litt.D from Western University of Pennsylvania (now the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

) in 1891, where he was

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

. Soon after graduation, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and took a job at the

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...

newspaper, where he worked for 27 years. In 1921 he co-founded Dell Publishing. In 1927 he moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, becoming vice-president of

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

for

Celotex Celotex Corporation is a defunct American manufacturer of insulation and construction materials. It was the subject of a number of high-profile lawsuits over products containing asbestos in the 1980s, eventually declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy in ...

Corporation. Johnston was married twice, first in 1896, to Hazel Minnette Williams of Hampshire, England, and second, in 1910, to Hattie Belle McCollum (1883-1963). of

Lockport, New York Lockport is both a city and the Lockport (town), New York, town that surrounds it in Niagara County, New York, Niagara County, New York (state), New York. The city is the Niagara county seat, with a population of 21,165 according to 2010 census ...

He had a son, George E. Johnston. He died in Chicago on February 16, 1929, at age 58.

Publications

According to ''The New York Times, "most of Mr. Johnston's books were written from his experience as a reporter." He is best known for his books ''Limpy, the Boy Who Felt Neglected'' (1917), based on his own disability, and ''The Fun of Being a Fat Man'' (1922), again based on his life experience, in reaction to a book by Henri Beraud called ''The Tragedy of Being Fat'' (''Le Martyre de l'obèse''). He wrote a series of articles for

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...

from 1925-26, on the theme "if I were a...", such as "If I Were a Business Man", "If I Were a Clergyman", "If I Were a Doctor", "If I Were a Lawyer", "If I Were a Rich Man", "If I Were Out of a Job". He also wrote a number of

detective stories A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

, and non-fiction.

Fiction

* ''The Innocent Murders'' (1910) * ''Solomon Sloan's Advice on how to Run the Universe'' *
The Yellow Letter
' (1911) free eBook *
Limpy, the Boy Who Felt Neglected
' (1917) free eBook *
The House of Whispers
' (1918) free eBook *
The Apartment Next Door
' (1919) free eBook *
The Mystery in the Ritsmore
' (1920) free eBook *
The Fun of Being a Fat Man
' (1922) * ''The Tragedy at the Beach Club'' (1922) * ''The Waddington Cipher'' (1923) * ''These Women'' (1923) * ''The Accidental Accomplice'' (1928)

Non-fiction

*
History up to date
' (1899), History of the

Spanish-American War Spanish Americans ( es, españoles estadounidenses, ''hispanoestadounidenses'', or ''hispanonorteamericanos'') are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in th ...

*
My Own Main Street
' (1921) free eBook at The Hathi Trust * ''Webster's Bridge'' (1924) - with

H. T. Webster Harold Tucker Webster (September 21, 1885 – September 22, 1952) was an American cartoonist known for '' The Timid Soul'', ''Bridge'', ''Life's Darkest Moments'' and others in his syndicated series which ran from the 1920s into the 1950s. Because ...

References

External links

William_Andrew_Johnston
at Goodreads * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, William Andrew 1871 births 1929 deaths American writers Writers from Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh alumni