Born in
Stony Point, Kentucky, to John William Fox Sr. and Minerva Worth Carr, Fox studied English at
Harvard University. He graduated in 1883 before becoming a reporter in
New York City. After working for both
New York Times and the
New York Sun, he published a successful serialization of his first novel,
A Mountain Europa, in
Century magazine in 1892. Two moderately successful short story collections followed, as well as his first conventional novel,
The Kentuckians in
1898. Fox gained a following as a
war correspondent, working for ''Harper's Weekly
in Cuba during the Spanish–American War of 1898, where he served with the "Rough Riders." Six years later he traveled to Asia to report on the Russo-Japanese War for Scribner's'' magazine. Though he occasionally wrote for periodicals, after 1904, Fox dedicated much of his attention to fiction.
The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (published in
1903) and
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (published in
1908) are arguably his most well known and successful works, entering the
New York Times top ten
list of bestselling novels for 1903, 1904, 1908, and 1909 respectively. In
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, the character Devil Judd Tolliver was based on the real life of "Devil John" Wesley Wright, the sheriff of Wise County, Virginia. Many of his works reflected the
naturalist style, his childhood in Kentucky's Bluegrass region, and his life among the coal miners of
Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Many of his novels were historical romances or period dramas set in that region. ==Legacy==