Carl Sandburg (1878–1967), a son of Swedish immigrants, grew up in Galesburg, Illinois. He attended school until age thirteen, then traveled from job to job throughout the Midwest, working as a brick maker, a carpenter's helper, a house painter, and a milk wagon driver. Sandburg's experiences gave him a close look at the lives of ordinary working people, with whom he felt a deep kinship. He later served as a soldier during the Spanish–American War (1898), briefly attended college, worked as an advertising writer and journalist, and became involved in politics.

In his poetry, Sandburg often wrote about ordinary people and everyday life—"simple poems for simple people." His poems are collected in books such as Chicago Poems (1918), Cornhuskers (1918), Smoke and Steel (1920), and The People, Yes (1936). Sandburg often traveled around the country, reading his poetry and performing folk songs. He is also known for the biographies Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (1926) and Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1939).