Hobson, Laura Z. (1900-1986), was an American novelist who wrote about controversial subjects. Hobson’s most famous novel is Gentleman’s Agreement (1947). In the book, a young reporter pretends to be Jewish to gain material for a magazine article on anti-Semitism. The reporter discovers that many well-meaning people hold prejudices and silently consent to religious intolerance.
In The Trespassers (1943), Hobson attacked the United States government for failing to sufficiently help European refugees before World War II (1939-1945). The Tenth Month (1971) concerns unwed mothers. Consenting Adult (1975) is about homosexuality. Other novels written by Hobson include The Other Father (1950), The Celebrity (1951), First Papers (1964), and Over and Above (1979).
Laura Keane Zametkin was born on June 19, 1900, in New York City, the setting for most of her fiction. She married Thayer Hobson in 1930. Hobson’s autobiography, Laura Z.: A Life (1983), describes her life up to the publication of Gentleman’s Agreement. She died on Feb. 28, 1986.
