Max Miller was a lonely reporter on the waterfront beat for six years when he first typed, I have been here so long that even the seagulls must recognize me.... That was more than 70 years ago, and while the country was in the depths of the Depression, I Cover the Waterfront made a quiet initial appearance. Neither the 28-year-old author nor his publisher expected much from a series of simple strung-together real-life tales. But there was something about Miller's writing that created a kind of magic. It went on to sell millions of copies.

Max Miller was a lonely reporter on the waterfront beat for six years when he first typed, I have been here so long that even the seagulls must recognize me.... That was more than 70 years ago, and while the country was in the depths of the Depression, I Cover the Waterfront made a quiet initial appearance. Neither the 28-year-old author nor his publisher expected much from a series of simple strung-together real-life tales. But there was something about Miller's writing that created a kind of magic. It went on to sell millions of copies.