Joseph Chamberlain Furnas (November 24, 1905 – June 3, 2001) was an American

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

. He is best known for his article, commissioned for the

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

, "---And Sudden Death!" This article brought national attention to the problem of

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

safety, and is the most-reprinted article in the Digest's history. His other works include a trilogy of social histories of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, ''The Americans'' (covering the period 1570-1914), ''Great Times'' (covering the period 1914-1929) and ''Stormy Weather: Crosslights on the 1930s'' (which covers the time between the stock market crash and the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

.) ''The Life and Times of the Late Demon Rum'' purports to be the only "wet" history of the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

; it covers Temperance from its earliest beginnings late in the eighteenth century up to the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment and national

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

. It is a useful work for those who wish to understand the context within which the temperance and prohibition movements operated; Furnas studies these movements' leaders and neither glosses over their virtues nor their shortcomings. Two of his books, ''The Road to Harper's Ferry'' and ''Goodbye to Uncle Tom'', deal with

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

issues---''The Road to Harper's Ferry'' is an account of John Brown's raid on

Harper's Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...

, which delves into the lives and motivations of the "Secret Six" who gave him a great deal of his support, and ''Goodbye to Uncle Tom'' examines how ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...

,'' both as a novel and in its many

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

adaptations, has shaped American attitudes towards African Americans and slavery. In addition to these books, he wrote several books dealing with the South Pacific, including a biography of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

, as well as several novels. He is credited with uncovering the truth behind the

Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway, as well as her communist sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted aft ...

short story, "

Julia Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g ...

," later made into a movie starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. Hellman claimed the story was a true if veiled account drawn from the life of her childhood friend "Julia," a doctor trained in Vienna as a psychotherapist and an anti-Nazi. In fact, the story was taken from the life of Muriel Gardiner, a friend of J.C. Furnas's wife. He documents the story in his autobiography.

Biography

Furnas was born in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

on November 24, 1905. He was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he served as a war correspondent; his age, poor vision and Quaker background all combined to keep him from actual military service. Furnas died on June 3, 2001, at his home in the Stanton section of

Readington Township, New Jersey Readington Township is a township located in the easternmost portion of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 16,126, reflecting an increase of 323 (+2.0%) from the 15,803 ...

.Staff
"J. C. Furnas, Wry Historian Of American Life, Dies at 95"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', June 12, 2001. Accessed June 9, 2016. "J. C. Furnas, a writer and social historian, died on June 3 at his home in Stanton, N.J."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furnas, Joseph Chamberlain American male non-fiction writers 1905 births 2001 deaths Harvard University alumni American war correspondents People from Readington Township, New Jersey 20th-century American male writers