John Brisben Walker, editor and publisher of the Cosmopolitan from 1889 until 1905, brought respectability and popularity to the failing magazine. In five years he built the magazine's circulation from twenty thousand to four hundred thousand. His many interests-iron mining, growing alfalfa, automobiles, and aviation--are reflected in the diversity of articles (some of which he wrote) in Cosmopolitan. The magazine was also notable for its articles on current affairs and for its poetry, fiction, and literary essays.

Walker was born on 10 September 1847 at his parents' country house on the Monogahela River, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The son of John and Anna Krepps Walker, Walker attended Gonzaga College in Washington, D.C., and Georgetown College. He left Georgetown in 1865 to accept an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Before completing his degree he resigned from the academy and went to China to serve as an adviser during the...