Sherwood Anderson (Sept 13, 1876 - March 8, 1941) was an American writer. Like a number of other famous writers (Chekhov, Dickens, Alcott, etc), Sherwood's childhood and adolescence knew family hardship. When his father's business failed, the family moved around a lot and his mother began to drink heavily. As a result of these hardships, Anderson left school at the age of fourteen in order to help with the family finances.