Harvey Swados

Harvey Swados (1920–1972) was born in Buffalo, the son of a doctor. A graduate of the University of Michigan, he served in the Merchant Marine during World War II and published his first novel, Out Went the Candle, in 1955. His other books include the novels Standing Fast and Celebration; a group of stories set in an auto plant, On the Line, widely regarded as a classic of the literature of work; and various collections of nonfiction, including A Radical's America. Swados's 1959 essay for Esquire, "Why Resign from the Human Race?," has often been said to have inspired the formation of the Peace Corps.

From the Review

January 18, 1968: Protest (letter)

October 31, 1963: Piecework

The State of the Unions by Paul Jacobs

From New York Review Books

Nights in the Gardens of Brooklyn Harvey Swados devoted himself to the concerns of ordinary people and pays tribute to them here in a naturalistic and controlled style that bears comparison to Cheever and Bellow.