Irwin, Will, 1873-1948

Will Irwin (Irwin, Will, 1873–1948), born William Henry Irwin, was an American journalist and writer. Public information about him is limited, and many details of his life remain unknown, yet the five works held in this collection show the breadth of his writing. The City That Was: A Requiem of Old San Francisco recalls in elegiac prose the old city before the 1906 earthquake, combining a reporter's eye for fact with a literary nostalgia; The Readjustment and The Picaroons turn to social and character-driven subjects in a lighter, popular narrative manner; The House of Mystery unfolds suspense through an episode in the career of the clairvoyant Rosalie Le Grange; and Stanford Stories: Tales of a Young University draws on campus life with humor and warmth. His plain, fluent style excels at evoking an era through concrete scenes and characters, and his works were aimed at general readers.