Samuel McChord Crothers (1857–1927) was an American Unitarian minister, essayist, and literary critic known for his graceful, humorous, and reflective prose. Born in Oswego, New York, he graduated from Harvard University in 1878 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1884. Crothers served Unitarian congregations in Minnesota and Massachusetts, becoming minister of the First Parish in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1894, a position he held until his death. Alongside his ministry, he developed a prominent career as an essayist. His work appeared frequently in The Atlantic Monthly and other leading journals, often examining books, education, religion, social habits, and the comic contradictions of modern life. His essays were collected in volumes including The Gentle Reader, The Pardoner’s Wallet, By the Christmas Fire, and The Dame School of Experience. Crothers was admired for combining cultivated learning with an informal, conversational style. He also helped popularize the term “sociological novel” in criticism of fiction concerned with social problems. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1927.
11 works on Textopian