An Ohio printer turned literary star

Yet he became something of a Tolstoyan socialist, a forceful champion of civil rights, and the only one in the American literary elite to speak out resoundingly against the execution of some of the Haymarket anarchists in 1886.

He became so dominant a literary figure that when he moved to New York City in 1887 he, Edwin Cady wrote, "took the literary center of the country" with him.

The authors have pored over Howells's 40 novels, perhaps a dozen of which stand among the most important American fiction writing, and well over 60 or 70 of his other books on travel, criticism, and social and political commentary.

They demonstrate how closely Howells's real life, plus those of his beloved wife Elinor Mead, his children and Ohio relatives, and many of his acquaintances, entered into his fiction. Beyond that, they have provided - without "academchatter" - insights into how Howells's fiction helped shape and presage 20th-century American fiction.

Since I came as an outlander to Boston in 1964, with only a high school diploma, to edit The Atlantic, I read with particular interest the portions dealing with how Howells with his "almost entire want of schooling" served for 10 years as editor in chief.

I marveled at his ability to write several books during that time while putting together a prose-packed issue every month. His $5,000-a-year salary would have been $100,000 today, considerably more than what I was paid during my 14 years as editor in chief.

In those days the magazine operated at a much more leisurely pace, with far less concern for the fast-moving current of events than today. Howells seems not to have taken the job as seriously as he did his own writing.

Perhaps that was why the magazine did not prosper under his leadership, and in fact lost ground - although not prestige - to monthly competitors Harper's and Scribner's.

I particularly enjoyed Goodman and Dawson's treatment of the relationship between Howells and Mark Twain, one of the most memorable friendships in literary history. Twain was even more unschooled and more of an outlander. The two became foils for one another, with the more polished Howells serving Twain as his personal critic and sometime editor and collaborator.

Though he began brooding about death at an early age, Howells persisted until May 1920, when he died a peaceful death in New York City. He was 83.

True to the fashion of modern book publishing, most if not all of his works are now out of print. Fortunately, the Library of America has devoted a volume to four of the most important novels, "A Foregone Conclusion," "A Modern Instance," "The Rise of Silas Lapham," and "Indian Summer."

• Robert Manning, a former editor in chief of The Atlantic (1966-80), is a Boston-based editor and writer.

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