Mount Vernon, N.,Y.

A quiet, green suburb when White grows up, Mount Vernon is his childhood home where his parents remain until their deaths. The White house is a large Victorian structure complete with turrets and towers, a capacious fortress from which White "emerged to do battle, and into [which] I retreated when frightened or in trouble," White writes in the introduction. Both his parents were from Brooklyn, and his father Samuel Tilly White was a successful businessman who ran a piano manufacturing and repair business. "Well to do," is how White describes his family of origin, but not wealthy or touched in any way with aristocratic heirs or airs.

Cornell University

Propelled by two scholarships of $1,000 each at a time when tuition at Cornell University is $100 a year, White first encounters the world beyond Mount Vernon at Cornell. While at Cornell, White forms friendships with other...