Full appreciation has never been given to the genius of James Thurber, one America's most acclaimed humorists and a shaping force of the New Yorker in its first decades. Alan Vanneman provides a thorough review of Thurber's work, giving special consideration to Thurber's "serious" articles and stories, which run the gamut from touching to nightmarish. Vanneman also includes a short collection of essays on Thurber's fellow New Yorker writers E. B. White and Wolcott Gibbs and several more on the subject perhaps dearest to Thurber's heart, words. A complete index is included as well. Alan Vanneman is the author of the following works of fiction: Brief Lives A collection of short stories Vorak of Kolnap Author! Author! Auden, Oates and Updike Sherlock Holmes and the Hapsburg Tiara Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra