ATG Article of the Week: How the ‘Harbrace Handbook of English’ Changed the Way Americans Learn About Writing

by Brooks Clark, Cari Wade Gervin

Metro Pulse, June 15, 2011

This is the 70th birthday of the Harbrace Handbook of English, reportedly the best-selling college textbook of all time. Did you know that John C. Hodges signed over ¾ of his future royalties from the textbook when he died to help pay for the University of Tennessee’s new library in the sixties, named the John C. Hodges  Library? When Hodges, a UT English professor, died in 1967, the Harbrace College Handbook was in its sixth edition and was called Hodges’ Harbrace College Handbook. This fascinating article tells us about Hodges and how he came to create the Handbook. It also mentions Strunk and White’s the Elements of Style which celebrated its 52 birthday this year.