Robert Worth

A New Biography of Kentucky Writers' Hall of Fame Inductee Hits Shelves This Month

From the Paducah Daily News to Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World, Irvin S. Cobb made a name for himself as one of the early twentieth century's most celebrated writers. Born in Paducah, Kentucky in 1876, Cobb rose from humble beginnings to become one of the highest-paid journalists in the United States. Critic H. L. Mencken dedicated a chapter of his 1919 book Prejudices to Cobb, saying, He is at once the successor to Mark Twain and the heir of Edgar Allan Poe. In Irvin S. Cobb: The Rise and Fall of an American Humorist, historian William E. Ellis explores the entire scope of Cobb's life and career. Ellis uses previously unavailable sources, along with the entirety of Cobb's published work spanning nearly fifty years, to document the life and work of the versatile and at times controversial humorist.