On this day in 1941 Sherwood Anderson died in Panama at the age of 64, of peritonitis brought on by swallowing a toothpick in an hors d'oeuvre. The most highly-regarded of Anderson's two dozen novels and story collections is Winesburg, Ohio (1919). Almost as well-known as any of his books is the story of how, on a winter's night in 1912, the 36 year-old Anderson threw over his life as a successful businessman in Elyria, Ohio for a writing career. In the middle of giving dictation to his secretary at the paint and roofing products factory he owned -- home of the "Roof-Fix Cure for Roof Troubles" -- Anderson stood up and walked out, surfacing in a disoriented state four days later in Cleveland ... FULL STORY »
