Joseph Wood Krutch's book, The Measure of Man: On Freedom, Human Values, Survival and the Modern Temper, won the 1955 National Book Award for nonfiction. After earning a B.A. degree from the University of Tennessee in 1915, Krutch completed his graduate education at Columbia University, receiving an M.A. in 1916 and a Ph.D. in 1924. Krutch taught at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, Vassar College, the New School for Social Research, and Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism before affiliating with Columbia's English Department from 1937 to 1953. In addition to teaching, Krutch served as drama critic for The Nation from 1924 to 1952 and also worked as associate editor from 1932 to 1937. He wrote twenty-nine books and edited twelve other volumes. The topics of his books reflected his interest in drama, literature, and natural history.

Krutch received the Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing, the Fife Award from the Garden Club of America, the Richard Price Ettinger Award, and honorary degrees from four universities. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Krutch died in 1970 at his home in Tucson, AZ.