<P> John Gunther (August 30, 1901--May 29, 1970) was an American journalist and author whose success came primarily through a series of popular sociopolitical works known as the "Inside" books (1936--1972), including the best - selling Inside U.S.A. in 1947 . He is best known today for the memoir Death Be Not Proud about the death of his beloved teenage son, Johnny Gunther, from a brain tumor . </P> <P> Gunther was born in the Lakeview district of Chicago, growing up on the North Side of the city . He was the first child of a family of German descent . His father was Eugene Guenther, a traveling salesman and his mother was Lizette Schoeninger Guenther . During World War I the family changed the spelling of its name from Guenther to Gunther in order to avoid having a German - sounding name . </P> <P> In 1922, he was awarded a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago, where he was literary editor of the student paper . </P>

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