James Stern; Irish-Born Author Wrote About Travels

James Stern, 88, Irish-born author who wrote short stories about his international travels. The son of a banking family, Stern worked as a bank clerk, pig farmer and barman before turning to writing with “The Heartless Land,” which was about Rhodesia, in 1932. Stern lived in New York during the 1940s and 1950s and wrote “The Hidden Damage” in 1947 when the Strategic Bombing Survey sent him to Germany to study the effects of World War II bombing on the citizenry. While in the United States, he was a frequent contributor to the magazines New Republic, Harper’s and The Nation. He also was a prolific writer of book reviews and translator of German literature. Other books by Stern include “The Man Who Was Loved” in 1951, “A Woman in Berlin” in 1954 and “The Stories of James Stern” in 1969. On Monday in Tisbury, England.