History Creator / RexStout

Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American author best known for his {{mystery}} novels, especially the popular and influential ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' series. Stout got his start writing for magazines shortly before the start of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. In his early days, he wrote in a variety of genres, from romance to adventure to poetry, but it was in the pulps where he had his greatest early success, and, by the [[TheGreatDepression late 1930s]], he turned his attention almost entirely to mysteries, and after 1940, only wrote ''Nero Wolfe'' stories.

Stout was a generally left-leaning, pro-labor liberal who was not shy about including politics in his work. His 1934 novel, ''The President Vanishes'' was published anonymously, in part because of its extremely critical view of the Fascist movement. (It was republished under his name after the start of UsefulNote/WorldWarII made that view a bit less controversial.) Despite the fact that the book was also critical of communists, it caused some people to accuse him of being a communist supporter. In the 1960s, he published a Nero Wolfe mystery, ''The Doorbell Rang'', in which Wolfe tangles with the FBI and its notorious director J. Edgar Hoover. The book caused Hoover to put Stout on his enemies list. Stout was also an active supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union. However, his hawkish views on the UsefulNote/VietnamWar put him at odds with many on the left.

Rex Todhunter Stout (1886-1975) was an American author best known for his {{mystery}} novels, especially the popular and influential ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' series. Stout got his start writing for magazines shortly before the start of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. In his early days, he wrote in a variety of genres, from romance to adventure to poetry, but it was in the pulps where he had his greatest early success, and, by the [[TheGreatDepression late 1930s]], he turned his attention almost entirely to mysteries, and after 1940, only wrote ''Nero Wolfe'' stories.

Stout was a generally left-leaning, pro-labor liberal who was not shy about including politics in his work. His 1934 novel, ''The President Vanishes'' was published anonymously, in part because of its extremely critical view of the Fascist movement. (It was republished under his name after the start of UsefulNote/WorldWarII made that view a bit less controversial.) Despite the fact that the book was also critical of communists, it caused some people to accuse him of being a communist supporter. In the 1960s, he published a Nero Wolfe mystery, ''The Doorbell Rang'', in which Wolfe tangles with the FBI and its notorious director J. Edgar Hoover. The book caused Hoover put Stout on his enemies list. Stout was also an active supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union. However, his hawkish views on the UsefulNote/VietnamWar put him at odds with many on the left.