IU professor pens Wells biography

A newly published biography written by IU professor James Capshew celebrates the legacy of Herman B Wells.

The work depicts the childhood of the beloved former president and chancellor of IU.

Capshew, associate professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, authored the book “Herman B Wells: The Promise of the American University,” which will be released in April of this year.

The biography looks at Wells’ early development, stretching from his childhood in Jamestown, Ind., to his college experiences.

Capshew introduces readers to a young Wells who is already finding success as a neighborhood newspaper boy. Yet it also reveals the young boy’s struggles.

Capshew revealed cases of suicide within the Wells family and noted in the biography how Wells overcame a case of mumps, endured torment in regard to his weight and battled with depression.

The biography takes readers to IU when Wells was an undergraduate, the time when his love for the University began.

A tease of the work appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Indiana Magazine of History, which is a published quarterly by the history department.

— Matthew Glowicki