In many ways Robert McAlmon was one of the best representatives of his time. He came to Paris in 1921 with little French and no particular interest in French culture; he spent most of his productive years in Paris, but he remained always an American writer, pursuing American themes, depicting American landscapes, and insisting on an American vernacular. While McAlmon's works have never received widespread critical or popular acclaim, his importance to the literary life of the twenties cannot be ignored. He was a writer, a publisher, and a friend to many writers and artists whose reputations have greatly eclipsed his. Not only was he a member and financial supporter of the "lost generation," but his life and works almost define the term.

Robert Menzies McAlmon was born in Clifton, Kansas, to the Reverend Mr. John Alexander McAlmon and Bess Urquhart McAlmon. McAlmon was the youngest of ten children...