Major Works
- The Mississippi Delta and the World: The Memoirs of David L. Cohn (1995) posthumously and edited by James C. Cobb
- Where I Was Born and Raised (1948) contains chapters from God Shakes Creation plus six chapters as a report on the Delta as of 1947.
- This Is the Story (1947)
- Combustion on Wheels (1944)
- Love in America (1943)
- I Hear Australians Singing (1941)
- The Good Old Days: A History of American Morals and Manners as Seen Through the Sears Roebuck Catalog (1940)
- Picking America’s Pockets (1936)
- God Shakes Creation (1935)
Biography
Born in Greenville, Mississippi, in 1894, non-fiction writer David L. Cohn attended the University of Virginia and Yale Law School. After school, he worked at Feibleman’s (a department store) in New Orleans and became its head. He then worked at Sears, Roebuck, and Company and became a sales manager.
Cohn talked Hodding Carter talked into returning to Greenville where Carter began the Delta Democrat-Times. Cohn lived with William Alexander Percy, the author of The Lanterns on the Levee, for two years.
Beginning in 1935, Cohn authored many articles and essays that were published in the Atlantic Monthly. He was best known for his first and most famous book, God Shakes Creation, which was expanded and became Where I Was Born and Raised in 1948. In his autobiography Cohn, a Jew, describes the way in which Jews, Catholics, and Protestants lived together in Greenville.
According to Delta Magazine (2011), “Cohn’s travels and contacts in many parts of the nation resulted in his behind-the-scenes work for the Democratic Party. His strong ties with the party weren’t confined to speech writing for Adlai Stevenson and William Fulbright,” Cohn also had ties to Lyndon Johnson, advising him on the public image of the oil industry and other topics. During those years Cohn was also close friends with historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., economist John Kenneth Galbraith and Senators Stuart Symington and George McGovern.
He was unmarried until he was nearly 60. Cohn produced ten books (all non-fiction) and scores of articles and essays and died in 1960.
Related Websites
- Keen-Eyed Cohn, Delta Magazine, 2011
- David L. Cohn (1896-1960). Caswell County Historical Association.
- Cohn Collection at the University of Mississippi Libraries
- Read text from Where I Was Born and Raised: The Delta Land
- Articles in The Atlantic by David L. Cohn
- Read The Mississippi Delta and the World (text)
- Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities – Greenville, Mississippi