The White Flag, By E. B. White

Leading American essayist and literary stylist of his time, E.B. White transformed his life experiences into unforgettable satire and children's literature. Elwyn Brooks White was born in 1899 in Mount Vernon, New York to Samuel and Jessie White. On White's twelfth birthday, his father said, "You are the object of the affectionate solicitude of your mother and father. Then you have been born a Christian. When you reflect that the great majority of men are born in heathen lands in dense ignorance and superstition it is something to be thankful for that you have the light that giveth life." (Samuel White)
This was definitely an inspiration for White. After he graduated college at Cornell University in 1921, he began working at places such as
I hold Fire Insurance Policy Number 424747, continuing until the 23 day of October in the year nineteen hundred forty-five, at noon, and it is important that the written portions of all policies covering the same property read exactly alike." (from 'About Myself', 1945) After World War II White became an enthusiastic editorial supporter of internationalism and the United Nations, publishing a collection of essays under the title The White Flag (1946). In 1963, President John F. Kennedy named White as one of thirty-one Americans to receive the Presidential Medal for Freedom. In 1959 he edited and updated the classic The Elements of Style, which is an American English writing style guide detailing seven elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition of unparalleled terseness, with a few matters of form and commonly misused expressions. Originally written and published in 1918 by William Strunk Jr., the book is a handbook of grammatical and stylistic dos and don'ts for written American English. White updated and extended these sections and added an introductory essay and the conclusion, An Approach Style, a broader guide to writing in English. This book is intended for use in English courses in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature. It aims to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style. It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention (in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. (quote from introduction of The Elements of Style 1959) For his total contribution to American letters, Mr. White was awarded the 1971 National Medal for Literature. White also received the National Institute of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal for Essays and Criticism, and in 1973 the members of the Institute