Charles Macomb Flandrau

Who was Charles Macomb Flandrau?

Charles Macomb Flandrau was an American author, best known today for his 1909 travel book Viva Mexico! He was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of noted lawyer Charles Eugene Flandrau. He was educated at Harvard where he was a student of Charles Townsend Copeland. His experiences there formed the basis of his first book Harvard Episodes which made him a minor literary celebrity. George Horace Lorimer commissioned his pieces for the Saturday Evening Post, where Flandrau was a popular contributor at the turn of the century.

Viva Mexico! was based on several visits to his brother’s coffee plantation in Mexico. A highly regarded travelogue, it has been reprinted by Eland Books. Flandrau’s other books did not prove to be as successful, although he was a prolific theatre critic for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press from 1915 onwards.

Flandrau's literary friends included F. Scott Fitzgerald. He died in 1938. Lawrence Peter Haeg has written two books on Flandrau: Little Corners of Great Places: The Private Life of Charles Macomb Flandrau and In Gatsby's Shadow: The Story of Charles Macomb Flandrau.