Biography - William H. Whyte (1917 - 1999)

In January of 1999, William "Holly" Whyte died at the age of 81. Although he was editor of Fortune magazine and an urban geographer, he is known primarily for the expression "organization man" which was the title of a book he wrote in 1956. It is a book well worth reading; one mourner wrote that "it is strange to note what slogans we remember from this classic and what wisdom we forget". Students who think this is only of antiquarian interest should note that an Appendix in the book has the title "How To Cheat on Personality Tests".

For your convenience, a list of selected obituaries is provided below. Most of them will be found in the Western Libraries collection or on the database Lexis/Nexis. Only those essays that were informative and different from one another were selected.

In addition, a list of the works of William Hollingsworth Whyte found in the Western Libraries collection is also provided below. If you cannot wait to get to the library to read The Organization Man, selections from it are found at the web site of Professor Alan Filreis at the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches a course on "The Literature and Culture of the American 1950's" and it is here that you will find the excerpts.

OBITUARIES AND ESSAYS IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM H. WHYTE
(Listed in alphabetical order by publication name)

obit. The Daily Telegraph (London), January 15, 1999, p.25.

"Secret Life of US Corporations: William H. Whyte", The Guardian (London), January 15, 1999, p.20.

obit. The Independent (London), January 15, 1999, p.7.

"Lessons From 'The Organization Man' Still Have Some Relevance for Today", Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1999, p.c5.

"Dialogue: "How Has 'The Organization Man' Aged? Nostalgia's Illusions", by Virgina Postrel and "How Has 'The Organization Man Aged? A Need to Belong", by Arlie Russell Hochschild, both in The New York Times, January 17, 1999, p.17.

obit. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 17, 1999, p.e5.

obit. Time, January 25, 1999, p.23.

"Writer Delved Into 'Obvious' Quirks of Life", USA Today, January 14, 1999, p3a.

obit. U.S. News & World Report, January 25, 1999, p.16.

"William Whye Dies: Urban Studies Author, Best Known for 'The Organization Man'", The Washington Post, January 14, 1999, p.b06.

"William Whyte, Man of the Mid-Century", The Washington Post, January 18, 1999, p.c02.

Books in the Western Libraries by William H. Whyte

The books are listed in reverse chronological order. These books are found by searching "Whyte, William Hollingsworth", who should not be confused with the other prolific author in the fields of sociology and organizational behavior - "Whyte, William Foote".

City: Rediscovering the Center, DBW stack HT151.W55 1988.

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, DBW stack HT153. W49 1980

The Last Landscape, BUS and DBW stack HT167.W48 1968

Cluster Development, DBW stack NA9108.W45 1964.

Securing Open Space for Urban America: Conservation Easements, DBW stack NA9000.U67, no.29-43. 1959.

The Organization Man, DBW & BUS BF 697.W62 1956

Material by Whyte is also found in the following anthologies: Great Writers on Organizations, ed. by Derek Pugh and David Hickson, DBW HM 131.P74 1993. American Social Character: Modern Interpretations from the '40s to the Present, ed. by Rupert Wilkinson, DBW E 169.1.A4983 1992.

For additional analyses see also: The Death of the Organization Man, by Amanda Bennett, BUS HD 38.25U6B46 1990 and The New Individualists: The Generation After the Organization Man, by Paul Leinberger, DBW HN 65.L365. 1991.