E. B. White (1899-1985) was one of the most influential modern American essayists, largely through his work for The New Yorker magazine. He also wrote two children's classics and revised Strunk's The Elements of Style, widely used in college English courses.

Elwyn Brooks White was born on July 11, 1899, at Mount Vernon, New York, the son of a piano manufacturer who was comfortably well off, but not wealthy. He attended Cornell, graduating in 1921.

He was offered a teaching position at the University of Minnesota, but turned it down because his goal was to become a writer. He worked for the United Press International and the American Legion News Service in 1921 and 1922 and then became a reporter for the Seattle Times in 1922 and 1923. As he put it, he found that he was ill-suited for daily journalism, and his city editor had already reached the same conclusion, so they came to...