Your passport to great reading.World Literature Today was founded as Books Abroad in 1927 by Roy Temple House (1878–1963), a scholar of vision from the University of Oklahoma. In a letter to OU president William Bennett Bizzell, Dr. House explained his founding vision for Books Abroad and requested a startup budget of $150 for the first two issues. With characteristic modesty, he wrote: “. . . I know our little magazine will be useful in various quarters. A good many of us, I think, are coming to feel strongly that the University of Oklahoma must begin fostering contributions to the scholarly and cultural activities of the nation” (October 21, 1926). For the next 22 years, Professor House nurtured the fledgling journal, and in 1948 he was endorsed by his colleagues for the Nobel Peace Prize for his service as an “ambassador of international cooperation and goodwill.”
