In reply to his asking a group of Philadelphians “what, if anything, descendants of Benjamin Franklin might be doing in Philadelphia these days,” “one answer was (I report it literally): ‘We consider Mr. Franklin to have been of a somewhat shady family.’” For more than 30 years, Mr. Gunther was looked to by stay‐at‐home public for his live ly, informed descriptions of the world at large. He traveled more miles, crossed more bor ders, interviewed more states men, wrote more books and sold more copies than any other single journalist of his time. At least 15 of his books were translated into more than 90 languages.

During World War I, the family changed the spelling of its name from Guenther to Gunther to avoid having an obviously-German name. [2] Johnny with his mother after his brain-cancer diagnosis, which he received in the spring of 1946 (Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America / Harvard University) To the task of writing “In side Europe,” “Inside Russia,” “Inside Africa” and all the oth er “Inside” books that brought him considerable fame and re spectable fortune, John Gunther brought a breathless curiosity, sharp ears and eyes for the offbeat fact, a consuming vital ity, a gregarious charm and a crusader's zeal to tell his read ers what he thought they might not know about other people and other places.

Vienna's Cafe Louvre in the 1920s & 1930s: Meeting Place for Foreign Correspondents | Coffeehouse | Nazi Germany". Scribd.

He submitted a chapter at time to his publishers, and he constantly revised galley proofs, to keep his narrative current, up to the last moment before the book went to press. (The same procedure was used for the “Inside” books that fol lowed.)Impatient to get to Europe, where, he believed, the best American writing was being done, Mr. Gunther in 1922 in structed the university to mail him his diploma and Phi Beta Kappa key and, several weeks before commencement, set out on the first of his scores of trips abroad. According to Michael Bloch, Gunther enjoyed a same-sex relationship in the 1930s in Vienna with the future Leader of the British Labour Party, Hugh Gaitskell. [7] The book is divided into 52 chapters, organized by geography. Its geographical structure begins in California, continues through other western states to the Great Plains and Midwest, then east to the Northeast and Southeast, then west to Texas and Oklahoma, and finally to the "new states" of New Mexico and Arizona. Factual information about topics like geography, population, and history is commingled with highly opinionated statements ( Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called some of these opinions "flip judgments" [5]) about United States places and people. According to Gunther, Southern California was "the California of petroleum, crazy religious cults, the citrus industry, ... the weirdest architecture in the United States, ... and devotees of funny money", and a place where "climate is worshipped as a god". [13] Gunther described Phoenix, Arizona as the "cleanest city" he saw and Indianapolis as "the dirtiest." [14] He called Knoxville, Tennessee, "an extremely puritanical town" and the "ugliest city" he saw. [15] (The remarks about Indianapolis' dirtiness and Knoxville's ugliness spurred both of these cities to start beautification efforts and led Knoxville to establish the annual Dogwood Arts Festival. [5] [15]) He said that the "best beef" he ate was in Montana, the "best single meal" in Milwaukee, and the "best ice cream" in Richmond, Virginia. [14] Spain - (Spanish Morocco, Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara), Spanish Guinea (Equatorial Guinea).) Spanish Morocco is the only of the three which gets more than a few sentences. Spanish Morocco is heavily militarised, and doesn't really get a short summary from Gunther. Governor Arnall of Georgia told Gunther that while “talking to Mr. Roosevelt one day, he remarked, ‘We don’t really have any Negro issue in the South; it’s white agitators from the Nawth that make the trouble.’ Mr. Roosevelt (who liked him), turned to him with that well-known twinkle: ‘You mean, Eleanor?’”

Cuthbertson, Ken (October 2002). Inside: The Biography of John Gunther. pp.247–256. ISBN 9780759232884.Cuthbertson, Ken (1992). Inside: The Biography of John Gunther. Bonus Books. pp. 5–8. ISBN 978-0929387703. Cuthbertson, Ken (October 2002). Inside: The Biography of John Gunther. pp.264–265. ISBN 9780759232884.