Writer. He was the oldest of four children, born of Scot and German ancestry. His birth name was Joseph Wilbur, he reversed his name and often used just initials. He attended schools in Gaffney until 1912 until the family relocated to Boiling Springs and so attended high school there. He entered Wafford College but found it too restricting and in 1919 transferred to Valparaiso University but dropped out four months later. Finally in 1920, he entered Wake Forest College. He found a home there where he adopted a bohemian lifestyle. He served as the associate editor for the campus paper. After graduating, he spent one year in law school, but decided against law as a career path. After teaching for two years, he decided to become a journalist. He began as a reporter for the Chicago Post, and later with the Charlotte News. He took a year off to travel thru Europe and then returned to Boiling Springs as editor for the "Cleveland Press." In 1929, he decided to try his hand as a free-lance writer. His first article appeared in "American Mercury." That was followed up by the piece "The Mind of the South." He was approached by Knopf publishers to expand that article into a book with the same name. Health issues forced him into a hospital for several months and at the advice of his doctors abandoned writing for a time. He took up writing again in 1932, publishing in several magazines and working on the book. Five years later, he returned to the "Charlotte News" as a full time editorialist covering foreign affairs. Finally in February of 1941, his book "The Mind of the South" was published. That same year, he died in Mexico City after he and his wife arrived there where he planned to write a novel. Many consider "Mind of the South" a masterpiece. Although it ignored the issue of racism, it was the result of intense research and reflection. One reviewer cited it as "an unbiased history of the South from the hillbilly point of view."