In 1924, E.M. Forster publishes A Passage to India, a book I’m supposed to be reading for the Faith ‘n Fiction Rounndtable. However, I haven’t yet obtained a copy. I remember trying to read the book once before, but I didn’t get very far. Maybe this time will be different. E.M Forster went to India twice before writing his novel, and he had become an opponent of British imperialism in India.

Herman Melville’s Billy Budd is published posthumously in 1924. Melville died in 1891. Billy Budd, a novella about a Christ-like sailor, was discovered in manuscript form among Melville’s papers by his biographer.

Robert Frost wins the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1924.

And in April 1924 crossword mania hits the U.S. after publisher Simon and Schuster publishes the first book of crossword puzzles, “”this odd-looking book with a pencil attached to it.” The New York Times complains of the “sinful waste in the utterly futile finding of words the letters of which will fit into a prearranged pattern, more or less complex. This is not a game at all, and it hardly can be called a sport.” More history and information at Wikipedia.

Nonfiction set in 1924:
Baatz, Simon. For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder that Shocked Chicago. (Harper). Recommended by Albert Mohler. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were two nineteen year old boys from millionaire families who confessed to murdering a fourteen year old neighbor boy for “thrills”. The case shocked the nation.