Herbert Asbury

Born in Farmington, Missouri, he was raised in a highly religious family which included several generations of devout Methodist preachers. When he was in his early teens, he and his siblings became disenchanted with the local Southern Methodist church.

During World War I, Asbury enlisted as a private in the United States Army. He was later promoted to sergeant and then to second lieutenant. He served in France until his lungs were severely damaged in a gas attack. He received an honorable discharge in January 1919.

Asbury first achieved notoriety with a story published in The American Mercury in 1926. The story profiled a prostitute from Asbury's hometown of Farmington, Missouri. The prostitute took her Protestant customers to the Catholic cemetery to conduct business, and took her Catholic customers to the Protestant cemetery; some in Farmington considered this woman beyond redemption.

The article caused a sensation: The Boston Watch and Ward Society had the magazine banned. Asbury became a celebrity. Asbury then focused his attention on a series of articles debunking temperance crusader Carrie Nation.

The following year he wrote a biography of Francis Asbury.

Herbert continued working as a reporter for various newspapers including The Atlanta Georgian, the New York Sun, the New York Herald and the New York Tribune. In 1928, he decided to devote his time exclusively to writing. During this time, he wrote numerous books and magazine articles on true crime. He was also involved in screenwriting and wrote several plays which appeared on Broadway. None was successful.

Asbury married Edith Snyder in 1945, a journalist ultimately employed by The New York Sun Up Above, where she spent most of her career as a reporter.

After his final book The Great Illusion: An Informal History of Prohibition in 1950, he retired from writing. Asbury died on February 24, 1963 at the age of 73 from a chronic lung disease.