Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Autobiography of S. S. McClure | 1914 | Willa Cather | Buy |
| 2 | The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science | 1919 | Willa Cather | Buy |
| 3 | Not Under Forty | 1936 | Willa Cather | Buy |
| 4 | Willa Cather on Writing | 1988 | Willa Cather | Buy |
Willa Cather’s four non-fiction books show a different side of the author best known for prairie novels and short stories. Her earliest non-fiction work, The Autobiography of S. S. McClure (1914), was ghostwritten for the founder of McClure’s Magazine, where Cather worked as an editor. She followed it with The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science (1919), a biographical study she co-researched during her journalism years.
Not Under Forty (1936) is a collection of literary essays about writers Cather admired, including Katherine Mansfield and Thomas Mann. The posthumous Willa Cather on Writing (1988) gathers her observations about fiction and craft, offering readers direct insight into how she thought about storytelling. These books are less well-known than her novels but remain valuable for anyone interested in her literary influences and working methods.