Lewis Browne (1897January 3, 1949) was a writer, philosopher, lecturer and world traveller. A rabbi, Browne turned to writing popular histories and biographies including ''This Believing World'' (1926), ''The Graphic Bible'' (1928, illustrations by

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

), and ''The Wisdom of Israel'' (1945). His 1943 novel ''See What I Mean?'' was regarded as a counterpart to ''It Can't Happen Here'' by

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

, Browne's frequent debate partner on the 1940s lecture circuit. Browne was considered one of the foremost authorities on the problems of comparative religion.

Life and career

Browne was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, in 1897. In 1912 his family emigrated to the United States via the Canadian Pacific Railway from Banff and settled in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. Browne received a bachelor of arts degree from the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

in 1919, and a bachelor of Hebrew degree from Hebrew Union College in 1920. Rabbi

Stephen Samuel Wise Stephen Samuel Wise (March 17, 1874 – April 19, 1949) was an early 20th-century American Reform rabbi and Zionist leader in the Progressive Era. Born in Budapest, he was an infant when his family immigrated to New York. He followed his fath ...

ordained Browne rabbi of Temple Israel in

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

. Browne's first book, ''Stranger Than Fiction'', was a one-volume history of the Jews published in 1925. His second book, ''This Believing World'' (1926), was a survey of world religions that received an honorable mention from

AIGA The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...

for its design and became the most popular book on religions in American libraries."Dr. Lewis Browne To Speak On European Situation; Rabbi Author Of Outstanding Books On Religion". '' El Paso Herald-Post'', April 9, 1941 Its success made Browne one of the foremost humanists of the day, and an interesting speaker known for his philosophical turn of mind and warm sense of humor. Browne left the rabbinate in April 1926 to concentrate on writing, and spent much of the year in Russia, studying the effect of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

rule on the practice of religion. In the U.S., he labored in lumber camps and steel mills, and travelled with migrant workers."Dr. Lewis Browne to Give Lecture at U.C." ''Berkeley Daily Gazette'', April 14, 1930, page 5 His third book, ''The Graphic Bible'' (1928), was first serialized in newspapers throughout the U.S. before it was released as a limited-edition book. Browne commissioned Marcus Rothkowitz—who later shortened his name to

—to illustrate the book, intended for young readers. Rothko's bitter experience with ''The Graphic Bible'' led him to sue Browne and his publisher; the lawsuit was unsuccessful. Signed drawing of Lewis Browne by Manuel Rosenberg for the Cincinnati Post 1926

Signed drawing of Lewis Browne by Manuel Rosenberg for the Cincinnati Post 1926

As well as his many books, Browne wrote for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'', and other magazines. Browne was married to Myna Lissner of Los Angeles, California in 1930; the marriage was dissolved in 1941. By 1941 Browne was ranked among America's most popular lecturers. In the 1940s he toured nationwide with author

, debating such questions as "Has the Modern Woman Made Good?", "The Country Versus the City" and "Can Fascism Happen Here?" before audiences of as many as 3,000 people. The pair was described as "the

Gallagher and Shean Gallagher & Shean was a highly successful musical comedy double act in vaudeville and on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s, consisting of Ed Gallagher (1873–1929) and Al Shean (1868–1949); Shean was the maternal uncle of the Marx Brothers. C ...

of the lecture circuit" by Sinclair Lewis biographer Richard Lingeman. Because of their frequent appearances together, Browne's anti-fascist 1943 novel ''See What I Mean?'' drew comparison to Lewis's ''

It Can't Happen Here ''It Can't Happen Here'' is a 1935 dystopian political novel by American author Sinclair Lewis. It describes the rise of a United States dictator similar to how Adolf Hitler gained power. The novel was adapted into a play by Lewis and John C. Mo ...

'' (1935). Browne died January 3, 1949, at his home in Santa Monica, California, at age 51. His death was ruled an apparent suicide by poison."Lewis Browne, 51, is Dead of Poison". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', January 4, 1949 Browne's papers were purchased by the

Lilly Library The Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library contained a collection of 20,000 boo ...

in 1969.

Books

*1925: ''Stranger Than Fiction: A Short History of the Jews from Earliest Times to the Present Day''. New York: Macmillan, 1925. *1926: ''This Believing World: A Simple Account of the Great Religions of Mankind''. New York: Macmillan, 1926. *1928: ''The Graphic Bible from Genesis to Revelation in Animated Maps & Charts''. New York: Macmillan, 1928. *1929: ''That Man Heine: A Biography by Lewis Browne, with the Collaboration of Elsa Weihl''. New York: Macmillan, 1929. *1930: ''The Story of the Jews: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day with Maps and Chronological Tables''. New York: Macmillan, 1930. *1931: ''Since Calvary: An Interpretation of Christian History''. New York: Macmillan, 1931. *1932: ''Blesséd Spinoza; A Biography of the Philosopher''. New York: Macmillan, 1932. *1934: ''How Odd of God; An Introduction to the Jews''. New York: Macmillan, 1934. *1935: ''All Things Are Possible: An Apocryphal Novel''. New York: Macmillan, 1935. *1937: ''Oh, Say, Can You See!: A Novel''. New York: Macmillan, 1937. *1942: ''Something Went Wrong; A Summation of Modern History''. New York: Macmillan, 1942. *1943: ''See What I Mean?'' New York:

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 1943. *1945: ''The Wisdom of Israel: An Anthology''. New York: Random House, 1945. One of the

Fifty Books of the Year; design by Stefan Salter. *1946: ''The World's Great Scriptures; An Anthology of the Sacred Books of the Ten Principal Religions''. New York: Macmillan, 1946.

References

External links

Lewis Browne Papers
at

, Indiana University Bloomington
LewisBrowne.org
(by his sister's grandchild Kim Mosley) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Lewis 1897 births American religious writers Writers from London Writers from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American rabbis Jewish American novelists 20th-century American novelists University of Cincinnati alumni Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion alumni English emigrants to the United States American male novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Oregon 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers 1949 suicides 1949 deaths Suicides by poison Suicides in California