'It's what holds Society together'

 

“It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance, and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.” – Max Eastman

 

Born in New York on this date in 1883, Eastman was an essayist, poet, memoirist and prominent political activist.  His essays primarily focused on individual rights and causes, something he promoted further in the magazine The Liberator, which he co-founded with his sister Crystal in 1919.   The magazine championed causes like Women’s Rights and Suffrage while also publishing up-and-coming young writers like E. E. Cummings, John Dos Passos, and Ernest Hemingway.  

 

A prolific writer, Eastman authored 20 nonfiction books on subjects as diverse as the scientific method, humor, and psychology. He also wrote 5 volumes of poetry and a novel.  In 1941, he was hired as a roving editor for Reader's Digest, a position he held until his death in 1969.   

 

Among his books were memoirs and recollections of his noted friendships with leading actors, politicos and athletes, including humorists like Charlie Chaplain and Mark Twain, who he admired both for their work and humor.

  

“Laughter is, after speech, the chief thing that holds society together,” he wrote.  “A smile is the universal welcome.”