Irving Howe (1920-93) was born in New York, and he attended City College before serving in the U.S. Army in World War II. He was well-known both for his social activism and his literary and cultural criticism, and in 1954, he helped found the intellectual quarterly Dissent, which he edited until his death. Among his enduring works are Sherwood Anderson, Decline of the New, Politics of the Novel, and World of Our Fathers.