This long awaited biography establishes Shirley Jackson as a towering figure in American literature and revives the life and work of a neglected master.

"This long-awaited biography establishes Shirley Jackson as a towering figure in American literature and revives the life and work of a neglected master. Still known to millions only as the author of the "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) remains curiously absent from the American literary canon. A genius of literary suspense, Jackson plumbed the cultural anxiety of postwar America better than anyone. Now, biographer Ruth Franklin reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness of the author behind such classics as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Placing Jackson within an American Gothic tradition of Hawthorne and Poe, Franklin demonstrates how her unique contribution to this genre came from her focus on "domestic horror" drawn from an era hostile to women. Based on a wealth of previously undiscovered correspondence and dozens of new interviews, Shirley Jackson, with its exploration of astonishing talent shaped by a damaged childhood and a trou

The Road Through the Wall explores the secret longings, petty hatreds and ultimate terrors that lurk behind the manicured lawns and picture-perfect domestic facades of a California suburb. In Hangsaman, precocious Natalie Waite grows increasingly dependent on a friend who may or may not be imaginary. The Bird's Nest pits four unforgettable characters against each other in a battle for control: the shy, migraine-prone young officer worker Elizabeth versus Elizabeth's other multiple personalities. In the Sundial, the eccentric Halloran clan, gathered at the family manse for a funeral, becomes convinced that the world is about to end and that only those who remain within the house will be saved!

A long-overdue reexamination of beloved American artist Grandma Moses, restoring her rightful place within the canon of mid-century American Art. One of the best-known artists of her time, and a true American legend, Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses (1860 1961) was often marginalized as a latter-day "folk" painter or a phenomenon of popular media. Accompanying a traveling exhibition, this new book looks closely at the paintings themselves and the artist's compelling biography to reassert her role in the development of a culture of modernist art at mid-century. Presenting fresh research, several scholars examine Moses's name, public persona, painted world, and wildly popular place in American pop culture; address the myth of the self-taught artist; and contextualize her work alongside such contemporaries as Horace Pippin, Elie Nadelman, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and Morris Hirshfield.