Harry Hansen

Harry Hansen (December 26, 1884 – January 3, 1977) was an American journalist, editor, literary critic and historian. He is notable as one of the many authors who wrote for the Random House Landmark Series of children's history during the 1950s and 1960s and he also edited the World Book from 1950 to 1965.

Life and work Hanson was born in Davenport, Iowa, and attended high school in that same city. After graduation, Hansen joined the Chicago Daily News as a staff reporter and upon the outbreak of the First World War, Hansen became the Daily News' overseas war correspondent in Europe. When the United States entered the war, Hansen was promoted to foreign editor. By 1920, he had risen to the position of Literary Editor and he remained in that position until leaving the Daily News in 1926 to join the New York World as the "First Reader". Hansen also contributed literary criticism to other newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Harper's Magazine and Redbook. His book commentary columns were syndicated in magazines all over the country and Hansen also hosted radio programs both in Chicago and New York.

During and following the Second World War, Hansen continued his historical writing. He wrote one of Farrar & Rinehart's classic Rivers of America series on the Chicago River in 1942 and he also penned one of Random House's equally famous Landmark Series juvenile historical volumes, Old Ironsides, the Fighting Constitution in 1955. In addition, Hansen also served as editor of the World Book from 1950 until 1965. During the 1960s and 1970s, Hansen supervised the revision of several volumes of the American Guide Series of state guidebooks including volumes on Louisiana, California and Illinois, among others. He also published an annual anthology of all the first-prize winners of the O.Henry Memorial Awards and in 1960 he published a complete anthology of the first-prize stories spanning the years from 1919 to 1960.

Hansen was married to Ruth McLernon in 1914, and the couple had two daughters, Ruth Eleanor (born 1915) and Marian (born 1916). Harry Hansen suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 92 on January 3, 1977. Harry Hansen's papers and correspondence are preserved by the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois.