About this item
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWSGood Prose is an inspiring book about writing—about the creation of good prose—and the record of a warm and productive literary friendship. The story begins in 1973, in the offices of The Atlantic Monthly, in Boston, where a young freelance writer named Tracy Kidder came looking for an assignment. Richard Todd was the editor who encouraged him. From that article grew a lifelong association. Before long, Kidder’s The Soul of a New Machine, the first book the two worked on together, had won the Pulitzer Prize. It was a heady moment, but for Kidder and Todd it was only the beginning of an education in the art of nonfiction. Good Prose explores three major nonfiction forms: narratives, essays, and memoirs.
About the Author
Tracy Kidder is an American author and Vietnam War veteran. Kidder may be best known, especially within the computing community, for his Pulitzer Prize-winning , an account of the development of Data General's Eclipse/MV minicomputer. The book typifies his distinctive style of research. He began following the project at its inception and, in addition to interviews, spent considerable time observing the engineers at work and outside of it. Using this perspective he was able to produce a more textured portrait of the development process than a purely retrospective study might. Kidder followed up with , in which he chronicles the design and construction of the award-winning Souweine House in Amherst, Massachusetts. reads like a novel, but it is based on many hours of research with the architect, builders, clients, in-laws, and other interested parties. In 2003, Kidder also published after a chance encounter with Paul Farmer. The book was held to wide critical acclaim and became a bestseller. The actor Edward Norton has claimed it was one of the books which has had a profound influence on him.
