E.B. White

E.B. White (1899–1985) wrote essays for The New Yorker, children’s books (Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little), and co-authored The Elements of Style with William Strunk Jr. — the slim guide that taught generations to write clearly.

His greatness is felt as ease. The prose reads like it has perfect calorie control: nothing heavy, nothing extra, but not minimalist for its own sake. There’s no visible effort, which means enormous invisible effort.

With Strunk, the signature rule is “Omit needless words” — paired with active voice and ruthless trimming. The machine test: if a sentence has a part that doesn’t do work, remove it. A machine has no unnecessary parts; neither should a sentence.

White modeled what the rules describe. His essays are warm, observant, and rhythmically perfect — the result of revision that erases its own traces.

Related: [[explanatory-writing]], [[compression]], [[craft]]