Bowen, Croswell, 1905-1971

Croswell Bowen (1905-1971), journalist.

Croswell Bowen, principally known as a crime journalist, was also the author of several books, including They Went Wrong (1954) and The Curse of the Misbegotten (1959), a biography of Eugene O'Neill.

Croswell Bowen was born in 1905 and was graduated from Yale in 1929. After traveling in Europe and studying at the Sorbonne, he returned to the United States and worked as a newspaper reporter and as a freelance magazine writer. His first book, Great River of the Mountains: the Hudson, was published in 1940. He joined the American Field Service as an official photographer in 1941, was wounded during the battle of Tobruk in 1942, and received the Africa Star and the British Empire Medal.

During the 1940s Bowen reported for PM, often on crime and juvenile delinquency. In 1948 he joined the staff of the New Yorker . His book on criminals and delinquents, They Went Wrong, was published in 1954, followed by his biography of A. Oakey Hall. Bowen's biography of Eugene O'Neill, The Curse of the Misbegotten, was written with the assistance of Shane O'Neill and published in 1959. In 1962 Bowen joined the staff of the trade magazine Madison Avenue, leaving in 1964 to become Director of Information at Compton Advertising.

Croswell Bowen married Marjorie Luce Hill, a Vassar graduate, in 1944. The couple had three daughters, Betsy, Lucey, and Molly Patricia, and one son, Peter, who died before his second birthday. The Bowens were divorced in 1966. Croswell Bowen died on July 15, 1971.