Thurberville

Sports columnist and author Hunter (A Historical Guidebook to Old Columbus) portrays the people and places that humorist James Thurber (1894–1961) experienced during the years he lived in Columbus, OH. Quoting Thurber's works as well as reminiscences by Thurber's family, friends, and contemporaries, Hunter depicts the Ohio life that Thurber often exaggeratedly wrote about. Hunter considers the author's prankster mother, his goofy father, his boyhood crush, and his college friend. Short chapters that can be read independently of one another describe Thurber's former haunts, then and now, such as a quirky baseball field that is presently a parking lot and the park where Grandfather Fisher's produce business once stood. Hunter outlines events behind some of the short stories, such as "The Dam That Didn't Break." The history of the restoration of one of Thurber's homes into Thurber House includes the ghostly visitations the author and later inhabitants recounted. Although there are a few photos, no maps accompany the text. An appendix sums up additional Columbus people and locations connected to Thurber.