About this item

One of the most popular and mysterious figures in American literary history, author of the classic Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger eluded fans and journalists for most of his life. Now comes a new biography that Peter Ackroyd in The Times of London calls "energetic and magnificently researched" - a book from which "a true picture of Salinger emerges." Filled with new information and revelations - garnered from countless interviews, letters, and public records - J. D. Salinger presents an extraordinary life that spanned nearly the entire twentieth century. Kenneth Slawenski explores Salinger's privileged youth, long obscured by misrepresentation and rumor, revealing the brilliant, sarcastic, vulnerable son of a disapproving father and doting mother and his entrance into a social world where Gloria Vanderbilt dismissively referred to him as "a Jewish boy from New York.



About the Author

Kenneth Slawenski

Kenneth Slawenski is the bestselling author of J.D. Salinger: A Life (Random House, 2011) , winner of the 2012 Humanities Book Award and is the creator of DeadCaulfields.com, a Salinger website founded in 2004 and recommended by The New York Times. His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, France's Revue Feuilleton, The Huffington Post and Salon.com and his work has been excerpted in The New York Times and The Times (UK) . As of 2013, Kenneth's work has been translated into 15 languages and published in 20 countries.



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