E.B. White on Dogs

E. B. White (1899-1985) is best known for his children's books Charlotte's Web Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan. Columnist for The New Yorker for over half a century and co-author of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style White hit his stride as an American literary icon when he began publishing his One Man's Meat columns from his saltwater farm on the coast of Maine. In E. B. White on Dogs his granddaughter and manager of his literary estate Martha White has compiled the best and funniest of his essays poems letters and sketches depicting over a dozen of White's various canine companions. Featured here are favorite essays such as Two Letters Both Open where White takes on the Internal Revenue Service and also Bedfellows with its fraudulent reports from White's ignoble old dachshund Fred. (I just saw an eagle go by. It was carrying a baby.) From The New Yorker's Talk of the Town are some little-known Notes and Comment pieces covering dog shows sled dog races and the trials and tribulations of city canines chief among them a Scottie called Daisy who was kicked out of Schrafft's arrested and later run down by a Yellow Cab prompting The New Yorker to run her Obituary. Some previously unpublished photographs from the E. B. White estate show over a dozen of the family dogs from the first collie to various labs Scotties dachshunds terriers half-breeds and mutts all well-loved. This is a book for readers and writers who recognize a good sentence and a masterful turn of a phrase; for E. B. White fans looking for more from their favorite author; and for dog lovers who may not have discovered the wit style and compassion of this most distinguished of American essayists.