"This definitive biography reclaims Nelson Algren as a towering literary figure and exposes how his radical politics sabotaged his career. For a time, Nelson Algren (1909-1981) was America's most famous author. Millions bought his books; The Man with the Golden Arm, winner of the first National Book Award, was made into a film starring Frank Sinatra. Yet the cause of Algren's decline was never clear. Some said he drank his talent away, others cited...

Explores Poe's literary accomplishments and legacy against the background of his erratic, dramatic, and sometimes sordid life, including his marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin and his much-written-about problems with gambling and alcohol.

"In [his earlier book] 'Making Toast', Roger Rosenblatt shared the story of his family in the days and months after the death of his thirty-eight-year-old daughter, Amy. Now, in 'Kayak Morning', he offers a personal meditation on grief itself. 'Everybody grieves,' he writes. From that terse, melancholy observation emerges a work of art that addresses the universal experience of loss. On a quiet Sunday morning, two and a half years after Amy's death,...

"In her deeply engaging, astonishingly candid memoir, author and activist Letty Cottin Pogrebin exposes the fiercely-guarded lies and intricate cover-ups woven by dozens of members of her extended family. Beginning with her own long-suppressed secret, thestory spirals through the hidden lives of her parents and relatives--revealing the truth about their origins, personal traumas, marital misery, abandoned children, religious transgressions, sexual...

A collection of articles, essays, poems, and other writings which shows that the author known for her Little house books was a prolific and talented writer all her life.

A profile of the late short-story master analyzes the myths and controversies attributed to his character and covers his struggles with alcohol, the role of a zealous editor in shaping his first collections, and his ability to portray the challenges of ordinary people.

Sharing candid interviews with 13 top children's and young adult authors who discuss why their books have faced censorship, an historian and critic puts First Amendment challenges into historical context and examines the support network that protects and defends young people's rights.

Considered to be one of America's all-time brightest authors, Mark Twain has left his mark on the literary world. Authoring such gems as "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Twain's insight on the ever-evolving and expanding America gave the world a better understanding on the social issues that plagued the country. Here in his own words, Twain chronicles his life and career, offering some perspectives on how his books were created.

A landmark biography of the great American writer Stephen Crane.

"The result, an odyssey to some of America's most iconic writers, is also a record of self-transformation as Bass seeks to recapture the fire that drove him as a young man. Along the way we join in escapades involving him as a young man. Along the way we join in escapades involving smuggled contraband, an exploding grill, a trail of blood through Heathrow airport, an episode of dog-watching with Amy Hempel in Central Park, and a near run-in with plague-ridden...