About Jack Schaefer
Jack Warner Schaefer (November 19, 1907 – January 24, 1991) was an American writer known for his Westerns. His best-known works are the 1949 novel Shane, considered the greatest western novel by the Western Writers of America, and the 1964 children's book Stubby Pringle's Christmas. == Early life == Jack Warren Schaefer was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Carl and Minnie Schaefer. Carl was a German American attorney. Both his parents were avid readers, and his father was good friends with poet/author Carl Sandburg. Schaefer read voraciously as a child; early favorites were Edgar Rice Burroughs and Alexandre Dumas, before moving onto Charles Dickens and Zane Grey, among others. He was to describe himself as a “literary nut.” == Education == In 1929 Schaefer graduated from Oberlin College with a major in English. From 1929 to 1930 he attended graduate school at Columbia University, but left without completing his Master of Arts degree when the faculty there denied him permission to prepare a master's thesis on the development of motion pictures. Schaefer's education included multiple courses on Greek and Roman mythology, which is thought to have served him well in creating the archetypal heroes that populated his Westerns. == Journalism and other career work == Following his departure from Columbia University, Schaefer went to work for the United Press.
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