20th-century American non-fiction writers

William Procter Matthews III (November 11, 1942 – November 12, 1997) was an American poet and essayist.

Robert James Collas Lowry (March 28, 1919 – December 5, 1994) was an American novelist, short story writer, illustrator, and independent press publisher.
Lowry was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a literary wunderkind who began writing at the age of 8; within a year, he had stories published in the Cincinnati Times Star. He graduated from Withrow High School in 1937, after which he entered the University of Cincinnati. He was, according to biographer James Reide, a voracious reader of the literary works of Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Guy de Maupassant.

Hedley Donovan (May 24, 1914 – August 13, 1990) was editor in chief of Time Inc. from 1964 to 1979. In this capacity, he oversaw all of the company's magazine publications, including Time, Life, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Money, and People. Hand-picked by founder Henry Luce, Donovan redirected the magazine from its historically conservative orientation to a more objective editorial stance, particularly with respect to the Vietnam War. The Hedley Donovan Award was created in 1999 by the Minnesota Magazines and Publications Association to recognize individuals who have shown outstanding lifelong dedication and contributions to Minnesota's magazine industry.

Carleton Upham Carpenter Jr. (July 10, 1926 – January 31, 2022) was an American film, television and stage actor, magician, songwriter, and novelist.

Christa Worthington (December 23, 1956 – January 6, 2002) was a United States fashion writer who worked for Women's Wear Daily, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper's Bazaar, and The New York Times. She was also a co-author of several books on fashion and formerly dated Stan Stokowski, the oldest son of Gloria Vanderbilt and Leopold Stokowski.Worthington was stabbed to death at her home in Truro, Massachusetts (on Cape Cod). Her body was found on January 6, 2002, with her two-year-old daughter, Ava, clinging to it. The child was unharmed.
On April 15, 2005, a local garbage collector, Christopher McCowen, was arrested and charged with her rape and murder. On November 16, 2006, he was found guilty in Barnstable Superior Court of first-degree murder, rape and burglary, and sentenced to life without parole. In January 2008, a hearing was held due to three jurors' separate allegations that racism was involved in the deliberations. In December 2010, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied an appeal for a new trial.

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (; May 2, 1950 – April 12, 2009) was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory, and critical theory. Sedgwick published several books considered groundbreaking in the field of queer theory, and her critical writings helped create the field of queer studies, in which she was one of the most influential figures. Sedgwick's essays became the framework for critics of poststructuralism, multiculturalism, and gay studies.In her 1985 book Between Men, she analyzed male homosocial desire and English literature. In 1991, she published "Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl", an article that received attention as part of an American culture war and criticism for associating the works of Jane Austen with sex. She coined the terms homosocial and antihomophobic.Sedgwick argued that an understanding of virtually any aspect of modern Western culture would be incomplete if it failed to incorporate a critical analysis of modern homo/heterosexual definition. Drawing on feminist scholarship and the work of Michel Foucault, Sedgwick analyzed homoerotic subplots in the work of writers like Charles Dickens and Henry James. Her works reflected an interest in a range of issues, including queer performativity, experimental critical writing, the works of Marcel Proust, non-Lacanian psychoanalysis, artists' books, Buddhism and pedagogy, the affective theories of Silvan Tomkins and Melanie Klein, and material culture, especially textiles and texture.

Marella Agnelli (Italian pronunciation: [maˈrɛlla aɲˈɲɛlli]; born Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto [ˈdɔnna maˈrɛlla kaˈrattʃolo di kastaɲˈɲeːto]; 4 May 1927 – 23 February 2019) was an Italian noblewoman, art collector, socialite, style icon, and wife of Fiat S.p.A. chairman Gianni Agnelli. She often appeared in the fashion magazine Vogue. She was named to the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List in 1963.

Michael Stephen Palmer, M.D. (October 9, 1943 – October 30, 2013), was an American physician and author. His novels are often referred to as medical thrillers. Some of his novels have made The New York Times Best Seller list and have been translated into 35 languages. One, Extreme Measures (1991), was adopted into a 1996 film of the same name starring Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Gene Hackman.

John Gregory Dunne (May 25, 1932 – December 30, 2003) was an American writer. He began his career as a journalist for Time magazine before expanding into writing criticism, essays, novels, and screenplays. He often collaborated with his wife, Joan Didion.

Felice Leonardo Buscaglia (March 31, 1924 – June 12, 1998), also known as "Dr. Love", was an American author, motivational speaker, and a professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Southern California.