George Jean Nathan is chiefly remembered as one of the most influential drama critics in the history of American theater. Yet Nathan's influence extended beyond his critical impact on drama--as coeditor of the Smart Set from 1914 to 1923 and as a cofounder and coeditor of the American Mercury from 1924 to 1925, he and his editorial partner, H. L. Mencken, helped to launch the careers of such important American writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Eugene O'Neill and introduced to American audiences the work of Lord Dunsany (Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett) and James Joyce. Perhaps just as important, the Nathan-Mencken partnership played a key role in forming the context for a literary revolution out of which grew one of the richest periods in American belles lettres.

Nathan was born on 14 February 1882 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Charles Naret Nathan, a successful businessman who owned a French vineyard and a Brazilian...