Biography: writers Books

Book SynopsisA day after 'N' first crossed the US border from Mexico, he was caught and then released onto the streets of Tijuana. Undeterred, he crawled back through a tunnel to San Diego, where he entered the United States forever. In this book, he details the constraints, deceptions, and humiliations that characterize alien life "amid the shadows."Trade Review"With near-poetic language, this undocumented immigrant from Mexico. . . . describes his years-long journey from harrowing border crossing to proud husband, father and home owner."--Library Journal"Because we speak of them in the collective--as 'illegal immigrants' or 'the undocumented'--it is shocking to be addressed by a singular voice. Nearly twenty years ago José Ángel N. entered the United States under cover of darkness from his native Mexico. Now he addresses us in elegant American English. He is the cosmopolite in a country where he remains 'the illegal.' He works as a translator; he reads German philosophy; he is married to an American wife; they have a young daughter. The view from the skyscraper window is of Lake Michigan; on his computer screen, the face of his mother appears in her green house in Guadalajara, Mexico. There are ironies aplenty in this book. Perhaps the greatest irony is that he has been studying us and he knows us better than we know him."--Richard Rodriguez, author of Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography"A memoir from a decent man living in the shadows, evading questions and telling lies, presented here anonymously since to reveal his identity would mean to risk arrest and deportation. . . . An utterly believable close-up picture of one illegal immigrant's life in the United States." -- Kirkus Reviews”José Ángel is like the Sisyphus of Greek mythological fame, stuck in an endless cycle of striving to push a boulder up a hill, anticipating the boulder will roll down again […] Against the odds, he overcomes major barrier after barrier.” --American Journal of Education"With great eloquence and pathos, N. draws on his daily life and references philosophers from Socrates to Kant to describe the netherworld of the undocumented. He takes solace in his education and his gift for reflection as he watches the slow and frustrating process of immigration reform. N. gives voice to the millions who, of necessity, live in the shadows."--Booklist"N. is able to put a truly human face on the 'shadow' that he is in our society and show us that he, along with the other eleven million undocumented people who live and toil in our nation, deserve to come out into the sun"--el Beisman"We do not have enough courageous writers who take the risk of telling their stories while undocumented. Illegal offers important testimony of the type of life an undocumented immigrant can lead when they have opportunities like N's. From the moment I began to read it I could not put it down."--Rita E. Urquijo-Ruiz, author of Wild Tongues: Transnational Mexican Popular Culture“Illegal is a memoir, certainly, but also a chronicle and an unforgiving history of American politics and culture. It is blunt, trenchant, and hard to read for its determination not to sanitize. It’s writing that is intoxicating, cathartic, and, perhaps, empowering.” --Antoinette Burton, coeditor of World Histories from Below: Dissent and Disruption, 1750-present "N.’s narrative silences the contentious immigration debate that proliferates amid political aspirants, policy pundits, and think-tank wonks in Washington. N.’s sublime and philosophic reflections transcend feckless fights about the contributions of the undocumented. As long as immigration occurs, this book remains required reading." --Paul Guajardo, University of Houston

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Book SynopsisJulian Hawthorne (1846-1934), Nathaniel Hawthorne's only son, lived a long and influential life marked by bad circumstances and worse choices. Raised among luminaries such as Thoreau, Emerson, and the Beecher family, Julian became a promising novelist in his twenties, but his writing soon devolved into mediocrity.Trade Review"In a superbly researched and engaging narrative, Gary Scharnhorst has pulled together all the facts of this fascinating if somewhat outrageous life. In sum, he has given us a keenly argued biography with a new angle on his famous father, who died when Julian was a teenager and who did not take much interest in his prodigal son."--American Literary Realism"Engaging and authoritative."--Washington Post"A 'must read.' Julian led a life stranger than fiction, and Scharnhorst, who writes with humor and an eye for detail, has offered a riveting account of the extraordinary events, pitfalls, and relationships that comprised his subject's life."--The New England Quarterly"This biography, in taking up Julian Hawthorne anew, aims to 'resurrect him from the footnote.' It has the potential to achieve this with its sharp profile of a once-prominent figure in American letters. That profile inevitably compels us to think about the peculiar, often precarious, social positions in which the children of cultural icons are put and/or put themselves. . . . Scharnhorst demonstrates how to write biography--not just to inform readers, but to pique their interest in its subject, or, title character."--Rocky Mountain Review"An intriguing portrait of a famous son who was an aristocrat, a hack, and a scrounge. Recommended."--Choice"Scharnhorst does more than just whet our appetite for the scandalous; he paints an elegant picture of a complex and contradictory man."--Resources for American Literary Study"Scharnhorst is one of the best-known and most respected bibliographers in the field of nineteenth-century American literature, and this biography is just what one would expect from a scholar of his skill and reputation. A valuable and highly readable contribution to the field, rich in surprising discoveries."--Thomas Mitchell, author of Hawthorne's Fuller Mystery

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Canavan is an excellent critic and formidable researcher, and this book, written in accessible, quick-moving prose, is rich with perspectives and ideas. The best sections detail the stories Butler didn’t publish or complete, using those fragments to dive deeper into the texts that she finished. Like all good criticism, the book is both authoritative and invitational. Read it and you’ll marvel at the arguments and feel invited to develop your own." --New York Times"For those of us who cannot make the journey to the archive, Octavia E. Butler serves as a more-than-adequate substitute and entry into this treasure trove of Butler's writings."--Los Angeles Review of Books"A must-read for scholars of [science fiction], Canavan's scholarship is both a work of sharply dedicated research and a loving tribute to one of [science fiction’s] most creative geniuses. Highly recommended."--Library Journal"This book deserves a place of honor on the shelf of every fan or scholar of Butler's work and should be acquired by every institution with the resources to do so, from the smallest local library to the most heavily endowed research university."--SFRA Review"Both fans and scholars will appreciate this vivid in-depth study of an internationally acclaimed science fiction author's life and work."--Shelf Awareness"A deep reading of the work of the late science-fiction master."--Kirkus Reviews"Canavan delves into Butler's personal papers, housed at the Huntington Library, in order to illuminate the muses behind this groundbreaking author whose limited public persona was typically described by words such as shy and awkward. Canavan's careful and even reverent handling of Butler's journals and diaries, notes, drafts, and revisions reveals a lonely woman most at home in worlds of her own making, a woman whose drive and passion were not just to write, but to sell what she wrote." --Resources for American Literary Study "This excellent, comprehensive study sheds new light on the process and philosophy of one of the most important authors of our time."--Publishers Weekly "[An] intense critical biography."--Times Literary Supplement "A compelling and intimate portrait of one of the century's most important writers. Canavan's thorough archival research introduces us to new aspects of Butler’s life and thought and provides the first comprehensive overview of her career. He writes with grace and passion that is equal to the stature of his subject. Highly recommended."--Sherryl Vint, co-editor of Science Fiction Studies "There are great depths to Butler's work, and Canavan has given us a torch in order to better see those depths. There's a lot of valuable analysis of how Butler's fiction ties in with her personal life. Because of the personal nature of the book, what we have here is anything but a dry academic exercise."--Michael Levy, coeditor of Extrapolation "Sensible and well organized. A book that situates Butler's fiction at the junction of biocritical and genre studies, showing how Butler's experience of blackness in America led her to explore and exploit the 'messiness' of science fiction."--Lisa Yaszek, coeditor of Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewBSFA Award for Best Non-Fiction, British Science Fiction Association, 2018 Finalist, Hugo Award for Best Related Work, 2018Locus Recommended Reading List, 2017 "Paul Kincaid has done an admirable job with this book, presenting us with the first really comprehensive survey of Banks' work across all his literary modes. Insightful, detailed, fair-minded, as generous as it is bracingly honest, it's a work that demands the attention of anyone with a real interest in this much-beloved author."--Alastair Reynolds, author of Poseidon's Wake"A thorough, focused, and very useful study of the works of Iain Banks . . . with the M and without the M!"--Gwyneth Jones, author of Life"Kincaid's Iain M. Banks is a significant and authoritative addition to these books that is likely to become a benchmark for Banks studies in the years ahead."--Strange Horizons"Kincaid remains a masterful practitioner of the lost art of finely calibrated literary criticism . . . Kincaid is, unsurprisingly, both meticulous and astute."--Science Fiction Studies"A warmly appreciative yet acutely critical survey, clear, concise, and well-judged."--Ken MacLeod, author of The Corporation Wars: Insurgence"Kincaid's short Ian M. Banks is admirable in the scope and depth of its explorations of Banks's many writerly projects." --Fafnir

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Book SynopsisProphetic short stories and apocalyptic novels like The Crystal World made J. G. Ballard a foundational figure in the British New Wave. Rejecting the science fiction of rockets and aliens, he explored an inner space of humanity informed by psychiatry and biology and shaped by surrealism. Later in his career, Ballard's combustible plots and violent imagery spurred controversy--even legal action--while his autobiographical 1984 war novel Empire of the Sun brought him fame. D. Harlan Wilson offers the first career-spanning analysis of an author who helped steer SF in new, if startling, directions. Here was a writer committed to moral ambiguity, one who drowned the world and erected a London high-rise doomed to descend into savagery--and coolly picked apart the characters trapped within each story. Wilson also examines Ballard's methods, his influence on cyberpunk, and the ways his fiction operates within the sphere of our larger culture and within SF itself.Trade ReviewLocus Recommended Reading List, 2017 "Elegantly argued, intuitively organized, and sure to be relevant to Ballardian scholars. . . . A testament to Ballard's continued relevance."--Library Journal"Scholars and fans of Ballard will find this study comprehensive and stimulating."--Publisher's Weekly"J. G. Ballard is an engaging and comprehensive study that marshals a constellation of insights around a single, robust argument. No scholar writing on Ballard in future will want to be without it. The book would also serve as an ideal introduction to Ballard for undergraduates or others coming to his work for the first time."--The British Society for Literature and Science"Wilson interweaves the biographical elements with rich and insightful analysis of Ballard's oeuvre, from the novels to the short stories, plus commentary on his non-fiction work."--Amazing Stories"A comprehensive and intelligent overview of the author's work, it is critically engaged, well-informed in terms of existing scholarship, and written in a lively and accessible style. This is an excellent introduction to Ballard's work for scholars new to the author, as well as for fans and general readers." --Science Fiction Studies"Energetically written and deeply informed, Wilson's study is a highly recommended resource for readers needing either a convenient refresher of Ballard's entire oeuvre or a singular entry point into Ballard's fascinating life work." --SFRA Review"Wilson has put together an impressive book. There is something intuitive and effortless in his assessment of Ballard's work, and around every corner are oh-my-goodness-how-could-anyone-have-possibly-missed-that moments of discovery. For fans and critics alike, this is a must-read." --American Book Review"A new comprehensive standard. Wilson's insights reach to the furthest ends of J. G. Ballard's bookshelf, complicate easy assumptions about the location of the 'autobiographical' in his novels, and, best of all, assert that if there is a science fiction worth advancing into the twenty-first century, Ballard is at the center, not the periphery, of that project."--Jonathan Lethem "In this wide-ranging and accessible work, D. Harlan Wilson argues that J. G. Ballard is a writer who remained true to science fiction even as he claimed to abandon the genre. With clear-eyed intelligence and a deep understanding of his subject, Wilson builds a compelling case for Ballard as perhaps SF’s most radical innovator."--Simon Sellars, coeditor of Extreme Metaphors: Interviews with J. G. Ballard, 1967–2008 "Did J. G. Ballard protest too much? In this engaging work, Wilson makes a compelling case that, though Ballard often distanced himself from science fiction, his entire oeuvre belongs to the genre, even if Ballard fundamentally changed the genre along the way to include the terrain of inner space and the science-fictionalization of everyday life. A wonderful reading of one of late modernity’s greatest imaginative writers."--David Ian Paddy, author of The Empires of J. G. Ballard: An Imagined Geography "Both interested and academic readers will appreciate the delicate balance Wilson achieves between the breadth of his palate and the depth of each shade, all the while amused by Wilson’s snappy prose and ever-unfolding insights that reveal with appeal in this unique and compelling study of the Seer of Shepperton. What comes after highly recommended?"--Rick McGrath, editor of Deep Ends: The J. G. Ballard Anthology

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Comprising contributions by recognized critics, Lingua Cosmica is an excellent addition to the current scholarship on non-Anglo-American sf." --Science Fiction Studies"Highly recommended." --Choice "Knickerbocker has done a service with this collection of essays not only to fans of science fiction eager to explore new frontiers, but perhaps more importantly to academic at large, which historically has been reluctant to embrace speculative fiction as a serious subject of scholarly study." --Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature"Lingua Cosmica represents an important step forward for the study of international science fiction . . . because of its indisputable success at its major goal of better familiarizing an English-speaking audience with these authors and filmmakers." --Fafnir - Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research"Lingua Cosmica is a vital and much-needed resource for people interested in world sf and what is or is not in English." --SFRA Review"Lingua Cosmica introduces Anglo scholars to a rich tradition of science fiction around the world. An exciting new perspective on a genre we thought we knew, Knickerbocker’s volume sets a new research agenda for global sf studies."--Sherryl Vint, coeditor of The Routledge Concise History of Science Fiction"If you’re looking for excellent scholarship on 'global' science fiction, Lingua Cosmica should be your top choice. Its offers very perceptive essays on a broad variety of non-Anglo-American sf authors and cineastes written by some of the most respected experts in the field."--Arthur B. Evans, editor of Vintage Visions: Essays on Early Science Fiction

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Eller's review of his muse's last for years of work brings to a satisfying conclusion a decade-long project to recount the life on one of American's most prolific and respected writers. . . .Eller illuminates the life and eventual death of this great American writer in a way that truly enriches any reader's understanding of him. This quiet yet present cultural icon may not always have had the impact he hoped for, but Bradbury clearly left a written legacy meriting a three-volume biography." --H-Net"Certain to be our generation's definitive life of Bradbury . . . This book makes an effective case for Bradbury's literary and social significance." --Science Fiction Studies "This final volume, published in the centennial years of its subject, is a fitting tribute to an admirable American original." --University Bookman "An enlightening examination of the last years of Bradbury's remarkable life . . . Essential." --Choice ​"The careful detail of this biography paints a rich portrait of Bradbury as a talented conversationalist and gifted collaborator and allows readers to understand the nuances of his professional relationships." --Science "Jonathan Eller’s final volume of his excellent biography of Ray Bradbury is an elegant and often poetic celebration of our great friend and a great man. Many wonderful memories return, and futures rise up. This book helps Ray follow the advice of Mr. Electrico: Live forever."--Greg Bear ​​"The third book from Jonathan Eller dealing with the creative life of Ray Bradbury is just as amazing and brilliant and insightful as the previous volumes. My only disappointment is that it's over, and unlike the others, this one carries a sweet and sour coating of finality. As it neared the end of Ray Bradbury's life and creative works, I wept. And that usually takes a knife wound. An insightful roundup of Ray Bradbury's life, inspirations, triumphs, and disappointments makes this one of the best books about an author I've ever read, and I've read a few. It's a triumph." --Joe R. Lansdale ​​​"Jonathan Eller's conclusion to his biographical trilogy tracing the life and work of Ray Bradbury is every bit as terrific as the previous two volumes. Meticulous, informative, critically insightful, entertaining and utterly indispensable, it's just what one expects from our greatest authority on this great American writer."—Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for the Washington Post "Eller's exhaustive exploration of Bradbury's creative output ties together how the strands of the author's restless imagination created a cohesive body of work with theme and panache. A must-have for Bradbury fans and sf scholars, and the perfect companion to the earlier volumes in the trilogy." --Library Journal "As with his earlier volumes, Eller makes meticulous use of his detailed research and extraordinary access to materials such as correspondence, manuscripts, and notebooks. The focus here is less on how Bradbury became a major writer, or how he parlayed his early success, than on his status as what Eller quite defensibly calls an American icon."--Gary K. Wolfe, author of Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature ​"Eller’s achievement in Bradbury Beyond Apollo and his two previous volumes will stand for years as the most penetrating view into the creative fire that was Bradbury’s mind and talent. It is a work of clear-eyed scholarship and, it must be said, love." --The Emotional Rationalist "A well-crafted biography of a man who inspired 'cosmic awareness in the everyday world.'" --Kirkus "Bradbury Beyond Apollo satisfyingly closed out a minutely researched and finely realized three-volume biography of Ray Bradbury. " --LocusTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part I. The Inherited Wish 1. Prometheus Bound 2. The Darkness Between the Stars 3. A Teller of Tales 4. The Prisoner of Gravity 5. Witness and Celebrate 6. The Sleep of Reason 7. The Inherited Wish 8. Long After Midnight 9. A Mailbox on Mars Part II. Beyond Eden 10. The God in Science Fiction 11. Infinite Worlds 12. Abandon in Place 13. Beyond Eden 14. Robot Museums 15. The Great Shout of the Universe 16. A Eureka Year 17. One-Way Ticket Man Part III. 1984 Will Not Arrive 18. “My Name Is Dark” 19. A Most Favorite Subject 20. Memories of Murder 21. 1984 Will Not Arrive 22. Death Is a Lonely Business 23. A Poet’s Heart 24. Forms of Things Unknown 25. Time Flies 26. Beyond the Iron Curtain Part IV. Graveyard for Lunatics 27. A Graveyard for Lunatics 28. Disputed Passage 29. Green Shadows, White Whale 30. The ABCs of Science Fiction 31. An American Icon 32. Harvest Time 33. A Promise of Eternity 34. Séances and Ghosts 35. An Evening on Mars Part V. Closing the Book 36. “Make Haste to Live” 37. Messages in a Bottle 38. The Fire Within 39. A Child’s Imagination 40. Farewell Summer 41. Samurai Kabuki 42. “Nothing Has to Die” 43. Visions of Mars 44. Remembrance 45. Closing the Book Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Cox consistently brings great critical acumen to bear on his readings, which are sensitively attuned to Zelazny’s specifics but never lose sight of the broader literary context, and he organizes an imposing array of material in insightful and intuitive ways. He captures the excitement of Zelazny’s work, the thrill of its evolution, the astonishing panache of its heights." --Locus"Well-researched, well-organized, and well-written, this is an exemplary entry in the University of Illinois Press's Modern Masters of Science Fiction series, and it deserves the attention of all fans and scholars of Zealzny's work, and of modern sf generally." --Science Fiction Studies"Zelazny fans will enjoy comparing their opinions of various Zelazny titles with Cox’s opinions, and getting tips from Cox on worthy titles they may have overlooked." --Sandusky Register"Roger Zelazny is a thorough and sympathetic review of the life, career, and work of one of the seminal creators in science fiction and fantasy of the last half of the 20th century. It takes into account the prior work of reviewers, critics, and biographers as well as commentary by his peers and fans, from every period of his sadly shortened life and since." --SFRA Review

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Book SynopsisDemystifying the “Poet Laureate of Depression” Pleasure-loving, sarcastic, stubborn, determined, erotic, deeply sad--Jane Kenyon’s complexity and contradictions found expression in luminous poems that continue to attract a passionate following. Dana Greene draws on a wealth of personal correspondence and other newly available materials to delve into the origins, achievement, and legacy of Kenyon’s poetry and separate the artist’s life story from that of her husband, the award-winning poet Donald Hall. Impacted by relatives’ depression during her isolated childhood, Kenyon found poetry at college, where writers like Robert Bly encouraged her development. Her graduate school marriage to the middle-aged Hall and subsequent move to New Hampshire had an enormous impact on her life, moods, and creativity. Immersed in poetry, Kenyon wrote about women’s lives, nature, death, mystical experiences, and melancholy--becoming, in her own wordsTrade Review“Dana Greene’s compulsively readable biography of Jane Kenyon tells the poignant story of the poet’s life, her development and career as a writer, and her long marriage to and partnership with poet Donald Hall. Overshadowed for many years, in life and after her death, by her more famous husband, Kenyon emerges in Greene’s narrative as a fiercely independent and gifted artist in her own right. Greene takes pains to illuminate the complex dynamics of their relationship and to showcase the quiet power and beauty of Jane Kenyon’s work, liberating Kenyon from the prevailing mythos that casts her as a lesser poet and enabling readers to see her anew. Jane Kenyon is a triumph.”--Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, author of Flannery O’Connor: Fiction Fired by Faith"A subtle, sensitive portrait of a 'complex, talented, and ambitious' woman. " --KirkusTable of ContentsA Word of Gratitude Prologue Turning Inward Enlivened by Poetry Donald Hall, “Rockstar” Marriage by Default House of the Ancestors The Community of Wilmot The Muses Finding Her Way A Double Solitude Streaming Light and Death The Boat of Quiet Hours Waiting A Moment in Middle Age The Coming Evening Widening Vision The Poet Laureate of Depression Poetry Matters The Busiest Year Deciding to Live Annus Horribilis “Please Don’t Die” Falling into Light Aftermath Acclaim Advocate for the Inner Life Note on Sources Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBorn in Chicago in 1870, Frank Norris moved to San Francisco at fifteen, spent two years in Paris painting, returned to San Francisco to become an internationally famous author, and died at age thirty-two from a ruptured appendix. During his short life, he wrote an inspired series of novels. This title offers a full-scale portrait of Norris.Trade Review"An important book. Norris is a compelling figure in American letters--youthful, ambitious, prolific, Californian--and he merits just this kind of learned assessment."--Los Angeles Times"Not only is the narrative readable and captivating, but McElrath and Crisler correct a number of common misconceptions about Norris and his work, persuasively demonstrating that he was much more than simply the 'American Zola' that many of his contemporaries made him out to be. This book demonstrates that Norris and his writings deserve much more careful attention from students and scholars. Essential."--Choice"The authors . . . began their research as graduate students in 1971 and have devoted most of their scholarly careers to finding out who Frank Norris really was. Norris died unexpectedly of a ruptured appendix in 1902 at the age of 32, and the authors conclude that much of our existing information about his brief life is plain wrong. . . . In setting the record straight, the meticulous McElrath and Crisler have written the definitive biography of Norris. In it, they emphasize how appreciation of Norris's literary genius is inseparable from an untimely death that forever raised the unfulfilled promise of even greater work to come."--New York Times Book Review"The meticulous McElrath and Crisler have written the definitive biography of Norris. In it, they emphasize how appreciation of Norris's literary genius is inseparable from an untimely death that forever raised the unfulfilled promise of even greater work to come."--New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisChronicles the making of an iconic American writer by exploring Ray Bradbury's childhood and early years of his long life in fiction, film, television, radio, and theatre.Trade Review"Particularly strong in detailing Bradbury’s friendships, influences, and professional relationships and endeavors." --Orbit"Every page is packed with fascinating material about one of this country’s most beloved writers."--The Washington Post, Michael Dirda "A very Bradburyian biography."--SFRA Review "Eller's work is thorough and enlightening on the subject of one of science fiction's greatest minds. Highly recommended not just for Bradbury fans but for all students of science fiction."--Library Journal"A treasury of otherwise unavailable information. . . . Fans of Bradbury will find this book a fascinating and revealing look into his life and work."--Science Fiction Studies"Jonathan R. Eller traces a wide variety of influences on Ray Bradbury's work, offering a detailed literary and cultural genealogy. Utterly compelling, this book contains a substantial amount of new material that will be invaluable for future scholars of Bradbury's work." --Gary K. Wolfe, author of Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature"A richly contextualized interpretation of Ray Bradbury's personal experience, his intellectual and artistic life, and the cultural milieu in which his gifts developed. Becoming Ray Bradbury will be the definitive account of Bradbury's development as a writer." --David Mogen, author of Wilderness Visions: The Western Theme in Science Fiction Literature"In great and always fascinating detail, Eller chronicles the journey Bradbury took from his youth to his early middle years. . . . [A] fine and important book."--Neworld Review "Eller shows how Bradbury found his vocation in a private world of mimeographed fanzines and couch-surfing, of transcontinental trips to the very first SF conventions, of the intense rivalries and controversies of a small enclosed world. . . . Eller’s excellent account makes clear that one of the reasons why Bradbury came to seem an important new voice is that he was never as naive a writer as literary patrons such as Christopher Isherwood and Aldous Huxley may have assumed.”Times Literary Supplement "A stunningly good examination of what in Ray's life turned him into the unique, individual writer he became."--Huffington Post "Eller must surely be the preeminent biographer of Ray Bradbury."--Choice "As perhaps the most knowledgeable scholar of Bradbury's body of work, Eller offers an in-depth study of his subject's early life, laying out his development from pulp publications toward The Martian Chronicles (1950) and Fahrenheit 451 (1953). . . . A fitting tribute to the impact that Ray Bradbury has had for his readers. Becoming Ray Bradbury reminds fans and scholars alike of the need to revisit our well-worn copies of The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451 and the countless short stores that introduced so many of us to the realm of the fantastic."--Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts "Articulate and engaging, astonishingly rich in detail, and demonstrating exemplary research and scholarship, Becoming Ray Bradbury will be regarded as the most authoritative biography of Bradbury's life and work for many years."--Peter Stockwell, author of Texture: A Cognitive Aesthetics of Reading

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Book SynopsisOscar Wilde's grand U.S. tour, captured in dozens of newspaper interviewsTrade Review"A generous and welcome sampling."--New York Review of Books "Highly recommended."--Choice"[A] rewarding, absorbing, and necessary book."--The Gay and Lesbian Review "Wilde was a source of fascination and provocation, and these assembled portraits reveal the rawness and the refinements, the pride and the anxieties, of American culture in the making during this important period. A vital and valuable book."--Eric Haralson, editor of Reading the Middle Generation Anew: Culture, Community, and Form in Twentieth-Century American Poetry"This stimulating work is an invaluable record of Wilde's speech, appearance, and demeanor. An excitingly fresh study of interest both to Wilde specialists and to general readers."--Donald Mead, chairman of the Oscar Wilde Society and editor of The Wildean: A Journal of Oscar Wilde Studies

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewBSFA Award for Best Non-Fiction, British Science Fiction Association, 2018 Finalist, Hugo Award for Best Related Work, 2018 Locus Recommended Reading List, 2017— British Science Fiction Association BSFA Award for Best Non-Fiction, British Science Fiction Association, 2018 Finalist, Hugo Award for Best Related Work, 2018 Locus Recommended Reading List, 2017— Hugo Award BSFA Award for Best Non-Fiction, British Science Fiction Association, 2018 Finalist, Hugo Award for Best Related Work, 2018 Locus Recommended Reading List, 2017— LocusTable of ContentsCoverTitleContentsAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. Crossing the BridgeChapter 2. Backing into the CultureChapter 3. Outside Context ProblemsChapter 4. Approaching the WorldGodChapter 5. AftermathA Few Questions on the Culture by Jude RobertsAn Iain M. Banks BibliographyNotesBibliography of Secondary SourcesIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Comprising contributions by recognized critics, Lingua Cosmica is an excellent addition to the current scholarship on non-Anglo-American sf." --Science Fiction Studies"Highly recommended." --Choice "Knickerbocker has done a service with this collection of essays not only to fans of science fiction eager to explore new frontiers, but perhaps more importantly to academic at large, which historically has been reluctant to embrace speculative fiction as a serious subject of scholarly study." --Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature"Lingua Cosmica represents an important step forward for the study of international science fiction . . . because of its indisputable success at its major goal of better familiarizing an English-speaking audience with these authors and filmmakers." --Fafnir - Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research"Lingua Cosmica is a vital and much-needed resource for people interested in world sf and what is or is not in English." --SFRA Review"Lingua Cosmica introduces Anglo scholars to a rich tradition of science fiction around the world. An exciting new perspective on a genre we thought we knew, Knickerbocker’s volume sets a new research agenda for global sf studies."--Sherryl Vint, coeditor of The Routledge Concise History of Science Fiction"If you’re looking for excellent scholarship on 'global' science fiction, Lingua Cosmica should be your top choice. Its offers very perceptive essays on a broad variety of non-Anglo-American sf authors and cineastes written by some of the most respected experts in the field."--Arthur B. Evans, editor of Vintage Visions: Essays on Early Science Fiction

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Book SynopsisBrian W. Aldiss wrote classic science fiction novels like Report on Probability A and Hothouse. Billion Year Spree, his groundbreaking study of the field, defined the very meaning of SF and delineated its history. Yet Aldiss's discomfort with being a guiding spirit of the British New Wave and his pursuit of mainstream success characterized a lifelong ambivalence toward the genre. Paul Kincaid explores the many contradictions that underlay the distinctive qualities of Aldiss's writing. Wartime experiences in Asia and the alienation that arose upon his return to the cold austerity of postwar Britain inspired themes and imagery that Aldiss drew upon throughout his career. He wrote of prolific nature overwhelming humanity, believed war was madness even though it provided him with the happiest period of his life, and found parallels in the static lives of Indian peasants and hidebound English society. As Kincaid shows, contradictions created tensions that fueled the Trade Review"As Kincaid’s elegant overview makes clear, Aldiss’s work is not only a paean to ceaseless creativity, but a testament to an almost compulsive preoccupation with generating new problems towards whose solution that same sparkling creativity may be directed." --Locus"A level-headed assessment. " --Times Literary Supplement "Brian Aldiss was science fiction’s most gifted stylist: innovative, elegant, mercurial and always highly readable. He was tirelessly prolific, producing not only stories of adventure in space, travelers through time and several noxious alien beings, but also experimental literary fiction and thoughtful memoir. Paul Kincaid’s superb and closely attentive account of his life and work covers the full Aldiss range, responding sympathetically not only to the extraordinary variety but also the level of ambition." --Christopher Priest, four-time winner of the BSFA Award"Paul Kincaid's cogent, career-spanning study of Brian Aldiss's life and work is a valuable contribution to SF studies. He expertly covers the many books in Aldiss's canon, shedding new light on areas that have received little scholarly attention while enumerating the author’s importance to the SF megatext. Accessible and illuminating, Brian W. Aldiss should be read by anybody writing about Aldiss, but it's also an enjoyable biography."--D. Harlan Wilson, author of J. G. Ballard"Kincaid affirms Aldiss as a crucial figure in postwar British sf, author of a handful of indisputable classics, and deeply involved in the aesthetic and critical evolution of the field." --Science Fiction Studies

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Book SynopsisWalls: Essays, 1985-1990, Kenneth McClane''s first book of autobiographical essays (originally published in 1991), is closely related to his second collection, Color, published by the University of Notre Dame Press in 2009. Walls is a powerful and deeply moving meditation on relationships. It begins with an essay on the death of McClane''s brother, Paul, which changed everything. Time, my work, everything found a new calculus. His brother''s life and death are present in some way in all the essays that follow A Death in the Family, as McClane tells us about giving a poetry reading in a maximum-security prison; his experience of being one of the first two African American students to attend America''s oldest private school; teaching creative writing; his sister, Adrienne; a divestment protest at Cornell; and his encounters with James Baldwin. McClane has written a new preface to this paperback edition of Walls, in which he reminds us that we are inevitablyTrade Review“The author of six collections of poems, McClane (Cornell) ventures into new literary territory with his first collection of essays, Walls. Although McClane’s introduction confesses to considerable trepidation about writing in this genre, readers will be richly rewarded by the quality of his prose. The cornerstone of this collection is McClane’s first essay, a poignant and powerful meditation on the death of his alcoholic brother. The elegiac tone he establishes here shapes the mood of the entire collection. From this vantage point, McClane writes eloquently about the experience of being both African American and middle-class in contemporary America. Whether he is exploring the sensations of giving a poetry reading to inmates at Auburn, or describing a Unity Day fiasco in Connecticut, or recounting the terrible condition of his brain-damaged sister, McClane writes with elegance, insight, and passion. In his explorations of the dilemmas of race and class against the backdrop of the American academy, McClane’s essays break new ground in the tradition of African American personal narratives. Highly recommended for all collections.” —Choice"In this absorbing collection of essays originally published in 1991, Cornell literature professor McClane muses deeply on issues of identity, race, family, and academia. . . . Walls is a heady volume; McClane is foremost a poet, and his essays carry the reverberant weight of poetry, demanding a careful read. Moreover, he peppers his prose with esoteric references to James Baldwin, Chekhov, Kafka, and others, lending these essays an academic air. He claims that the loss of his brother to alcoholism pervades each tale, yet the pieces on his mentally-disabled sister or his difficult time at Collegiate carry equal emotional weight." —PW Annex Reviews“Kenneth McClane’s Walls is a collection of exquisitely crafted autobiographical essays that rivals the most profound nonfictional writings of James Baldwin in its skillful investigation of the hidden recesses of the always-throbbing black American soul. Indeed, Walls is a beautifully calibrated exploration of the challenges faced by a courageously self-aware—and refreshingly self-revealing—black intellectual whose journey to and in the American mainstream is both menacing and exhilarating.” —Michael Awkward, University of Michigan“Walls reminds us of the differences that set us apart, dividing our world into good kids and troublemakers, winners and losers, the beautiful and the damned. The anodyne for exile in these essays is McClane’s common but by no means commonplace lexicon, at once evocative and spare, that leads us to painful but honest connection and the luminous possibility of empathy.” —William L. Andrews, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Book SynopsisExamines the life and work of writer and political activist Georg Forster (1754-1794), a participant in Captain Cook’s second voyage and one of the leading figures in the Mainz Republic.Trade Review“Todd Kontje’s book is both an excellent starting point and a significant addition to existing scholarship. The image of Forster that emerges is further removed from modern progressive values, but no less fascinating and important.”—Morgan Golf-French History of European Ideas“A worthy contribution to the scholarship on Forster.”—R. Bledsoe Choice“This book is daring, somewhat provocative yet brilliant. It is an elegant volume, well done and with a helpful index. Above all, this is a major contribution to current scholarly debates on race, travel literature, science, and political and philosophical discourses surrounding the French Revolution and the Mainz Republic.”—Beate Allert German Quarterly“Georg Forster is a well-conceived and important book that comes at a moment of unresolved tension around questions of nationalism and cosmopolitanism, globalization and imperialism, individual identity and group identity, and populism and democracy—questions that were central to Forster’s life and his writings. Written by one of the foremost scholars in German literary approaches to other cultures, it will make an important contribution to the scholarship on Enlightenment travel, thought, and writing.”—John Noyes,author of Herder: Aesthetics Against Imperialism

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Book SynopsisA collection of five essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald by the biographer and critic Scott Donaldson (1928–2020).Trade Review“Animated by both scholarship and passion, these essays are well worth a look for Fitzgerald fans and literature students more generally.”—Publishers Weekly“This highly accessible book will appeal immediately to Fitzgerald scholars and other readers interested in Fitzgerald’s association with the core themes of 1920s and 1930s literature—expatriation, psychoanalysis, and even technology. It is also a great guide for students, both undergraduates and graduates, who will find it a useful resource for explaining Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night and its central scenes.”—Kirk Curnutt,author of Reading Hemingway’s “To Have and Have Not”: Glossary and Commentary

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Book SynopsisWritten with exquisite sensitivity and wit, this memoir by one of Mexico’s foremost men of letters describes coming of age during the violence of the Mexican Revolution and “living dangerously” as an openly homosexual man in a brutally machista society.Trade Review"And if 'translators translate context,' as Edith Grossman asserts, then what we encounter when we read Pillar of Salt is a supreme translation not only of language but also of culture, politics, sexuality, and boyhood." * Bookslut *"Reading [Pillar of Salt] was like shining a black light into a motel room, laying bare the secret traces of every lurid, defiant act that had preceded me there." * The Believer *Table of Contents Introduction The Sidelong World: Where Confession and Proclamation Are Compounded, by Carlos Monsiváis Pillar of Salt by Salvador Novo “This flower of fourteen petals”: Salvador Novo and the Sonnet, by Marguerite Feitlowitz Sonnets Notes Index of Names

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This is a strong compilation, mixing Okada’s writing with copious analysis of it, and telling a story of his life that both echoes and informs his best-known work." -- Jeff Fleischer * Foreword Reviews *"Combining an extensive biographical treatment of Okada (1923–71), recovered works by Okada, and critical essays, John Okada offers an innovative introduction to the Japanese American author. . . . Recommended." * Choice *"Thanks to the recent publication of a collection of previously unknown writings by Okada (John Okada: The Life & Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-No Boy), readers are in a better position to understand how these themes were embedded in the author’s life. Revisiting No-No Boy alongside the recent collection offers a valuable opportunity to connect the legacies of wartime incarceration with current struggles against a state that seems intent on repeating the injustices of the past." * Los Angeles Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisNo-No Boy, John Okada's only published novel, centers on a Japanese American who refuses to fight for the country that incarcerated him and his people in World War II and, upon release from federal prison after the war, is cast out by his divided community. In 1957, the novel faced a similar rejection until it was rediscovered and reissued in 1976 to become a celebrated classic of American literature. As a result of Okada's untimely death at age forty-seven, the author's life and other works have remained obscure.This compelling collection offers the first full-length examination of Okada's development as an artist, placing recently discovered writing by Okada alongside essays that reassess his lasting legacy. Meticulously researched biographical details, insight from friends and relatives, and a trove of intimate photographs illuminate Okada's early life in Seattle, military service, and careers as a public librarian and a technical writer in the aerospace industryTrade Review"This is a strong compilation, mixing Okada’s writing with copious analysis of it, and telling a story of his life that both echoes and informs his best-known work." -- Jeff Fleischer * Foreword Reviews *"Combining an extensive biographical treatment of Okada (1923–71), recovered works by Okada, and critical essays, John Okada offers an innovative introduction to the Japanese American author. . . . Recommended." * Choice *"Thanks to the recent publication of a collection of previously unknown writings by Okada (John Okada: The Life & Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-No Boy), readers are in a better position to understand how these themes were embedded in the author’s life. Revisiting No-No Boy alongside the recent collection offers a valuable opportunity to connect the legacies of wartime incarceration with current struggles against a state that seems intent on repeating the injustices of the past." * Los Angeles Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisExplores the genesis of James Joyce's ""Finnegans Wake"". This book offers an archival survey of the manuscripts, and an introduction to genetic criticism.Trade ReviewAn important contribution to genetic textual scholarship, the study of the process of a writer's production.... To enable us to grasp [Joyce's] process in its very becoming, as this book does, is a huge achievement. - Terence Killeen, The Irish Times ""Insightful and relevant.... It is the first comprehensive genetic discussion of Finnegans Wake chapter by chapter, and anyone seriously interested in Joyce and the Wake will benefit from reading it."" - A. Nicholas Fargnoli, Molloy College ""A major step forward in the critical history of the book that is Joyce's most challenging work and one of the twentieth century's most significant artistic productions."" - Derek Attridge, University of York

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Book SynopsisNorwegian writer Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920, was both a brilliant and controversial man. This biography offers a nuanced account of this morally ambiguous man. Drawing on Hamsun's extraordinary private archives and on his psychoanalyst's notes, it delves into Hamsun's personal life and character.Trade Review“ [a] daring, frightening book.”—Los Angeles Times * Los Angeles Times *

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Book SynopsisThe seventeenth-century poet Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) is one of the most intriguing figures in English literature. This title offers a look into Marvell's life, from his early employment as a tutor and gentleman's companion to his suspicious death, reputedly a politically fueled poisoning.Trade Review"Superlative. . . . The fullest portrait we have to date."—David Yezzi, The Wall Street Journal -- David Yezzi * The Wall Street Journal *"Nigel Smith. . . has certainly mastered everything that can be learned about this elusive, shadowy and very private man."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post -- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post *"Smith asks the right questions about Marvell's life and time, and he works assiduously in helping to lay 'a new foundation of the documentary knowledge.' . . . [A] worthy biography."—Megan Buskey, The New York Times Book Review -- Megan Buskey * The New York Times Book Review *"He offers the fullest available account of Marvell's political activities, fully contextualized. . . . [An] indispensible guide."—Paul Dean, The New Criterion -- Paul Dean * The New Criterion *"Nigel Smith attends skillfully to the poetry, but he also provides extensive information about the period as well as the complicated development of Marvell's political and religious views. . . . [Smith's] is probably the most complete biography of Marvell we are likely to see."—Jerome Donnelly, America -- Jerome Donnelly * America *"Smith delivers fresh insights into Marvell’s experiences and character…. a fascinating psychological portrait of Marvell."—Helen Hackett, Times Literary Supplement -- Helen Hackett * Times Literary Supplement *"From reclusive poet to undercover pamphleteer, Andrew Marvell has always been a mystery man. But nobody knows him better than Nigel Smith, who now follows his definitive edition of the poetry with an up-to-date and state-of-the-art biography."—Annabel Patterson, Yale University -- Annabel Patterson"The remarkable depth of Nigel Smith's research makes new sense of a celebratedly elusive writer."—David Norbrook, author of Poetry and Politics in the English Renaissance -- David Norbrook‘Nigel Smith's definitive biography of Marvell is a gripping read, opening up a world of surprisingly intense interactions between poetry and politics in England's most turbulent modern century. Smith brilliantly illuminates the two sides of Marvell's poetical character--the engaged, parliamentary brawler and controversialist, and the weirdly detached observer of the world--but he also shows how the mysteriousness of Marvell's character resides at last in the very independence and privacy for which Marvell so publicly fought."—Gordon Teskey, Harvard University -- Gordon Teskey"Rich in detail and impeccably lucid, this remarkable study allows us to understand the subtle poet and elusive politician as we never have before. If Marvell was a mirror to the world, as one of the book's sources says, Nigel Smith is the perfect guide to the mirror and its world, master of the difficult art of looking-glass history."—Michael Wood, Princeton University -- Michael Wood'The chameleon that emerges from this badly needed, deeply researched study is not just the subtle lyricist familiar from the anthologies but a vigorous verse satirist and an ambitious prose controversialist, whose views still resonate today. Historical sleuthing and literary analysis combine brilliantly in this landmark account - the fullest, most wide-angle picture of Marvell ever produced." —John Kerrigan, Professor of English 2000, University of Cambridge -- John Kerrigan"Meticulously researched. . . this noteworthy study provides a suitable balance of historical context and literary criticism."—Library Journal * Library Journal *"Smith makes an excellent case for the enduring power of Marvell's occasional poems and satires."—Adam Kirsch, Barnes and Noble Review -- Adam Kirsch * Barnes and Noble Review *"[A] worthy biography."—Megan Buskey, The New York Times Book Review -- Megan Buskey * The New York Times Book Review *"[An] exhaustive, shrewd, wary new biography...Thepoet as craft chameleon in Smith's smart and resonant readings is also the poet as skulking, threatened double agent."—Robert Polito, Bookforum -- Robert Polito * Bookforum *"[An] exhaustive, shrewd, wary new biography."—Robert Polito, Bookforum -- Robert Polito * Bookforum *"Engaging, intensely researched…. Smith is very good on the historical and political contexts surrounding Marvell…. Smith’s book is a welcome contribution to Marvell studies."—Nick Laird, Daily Telegraph -- Nick Laird * Daily Telegraph *"[An] illuminating study."—Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman -- Michael Kerrigan * The Scotsman *"The result of Smith’s scholarly close readings is a refreshed and refined sense of Marvell’s poetry, and his biography should be a standard point of reference for future Marvellians."—John Stubbs, Literary Review -- John Stubbs * Literary Review *“Nigel Smith…has now filled [a] void with this authoritative Life.”—Barton Swaim, The Weekly Standard -- Barton Swaim * The Weekly Standard *"It is an achievment of astonishing depth and equally impressive scope, covering a fascinating, complex period of English history. The book is must reading for early modern scholars."—M. Cole, CHOICE -- M. Cole * CHOICE *"Meticulously researched and scholarly in tone, this noteworthy study provides a suitable balance of historical context and literary criticism. Strongly recommended for students and general readers of 17th-century English literature and history."—Brian Odom, Library Journal -- Brian Odom * Library Journal *“Insightful, provocative.”—Books and Culture * Books and Culture *“Smith’s comprehensive study of Marvell’s many guises will influence critical thinking for years to come.”—A.D Cousins, Review of English Studies Vol.62 No.256 -- A.D Cousins * Review of English Studies Vol.62 No.256 *"Nigel Smith's massive effort . . . obviates the need for any further such survey of Marvell's life and art . . . [Smith's] grasp of seventeenth-century English history, politics, religion, society, is beyond impressive, and he is also a sensitive reader of poetry."—William H. Pritchard, The Hudson Review -- William H. Pritchard * The Hudson Review *“Nigel Smith… has now filled [a] void with this authoritative Life.”—Barton Swaim, The Weekly Standard -- Barton Swaim * The Weekly Standard *"Smith's meticulous archival research . . . allows a portrait of the young Marvell to form from relatively few life records. . . . Smith is able to identify relationships between [the political ideas of the prose and the depictions of love and sexuality in the lyric poems] in provocative ways."—Curtis Whitaker, Huntington Library Quarterly -- Curtis Whitaker * Huntington Library Quarterly *Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2011 in the English and American category. -- Choice Outstanding Academic Title * Choice *“This context of danger, where revelations of identity can mean a beheading, permeates the poet’s literary as well as his political work, as this scholarly biography shows.”—Sunday Herald (Glasgow) * Sunday Herald (Glasgow) *Shortlisted for the 2011 HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize -- HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize Shortlist * Biographers' Club *"A highly laudatory biography of the republican poet who praised regicides, hated Catholics and exposed in memorable verse corruption in those places he chose to investigate."—Contemporary Review * Contemporary Review *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“In this compassionate and moving biography, Cuthbertson lifts the lid on Owen’s early years and their impact on his work… While his boyishness nurtured his verse, his writing was mature and sophisticated, and Cuthbertson scrutinises this relationship wonderfully.—Julia Richardson, Daily Mail -- Julia Richardson * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisSon of the famous Thomas Mann, homosexual, drug-addicted, and forced to flee from his fatherland, the gifted writer Klaus Mann's comparatively short life was as artistically productive as it was devastatingly dislocated. Best-known today as the author of Mephisto, the literary enfant terrible of the Weimar era produced seven novels, a dozen plays, four biographies, and three autobiographiesamong them the first works in Germany to tackle gay issuesamidst a prodigious artistic output. He was among the first to take up his pen against the Nazis, as a reward for which he was blacklisted and denounced as a dangerous half-Jew, his books burnt in public squares around Germany, and his citizenship revoked. Having served with the U.S. military in Italy, he was nevertheless undone by anti-Communist fanatics in Cold War-era America and Germany, dying in France (though not, as all other books contend, by his own hand) at age forty-two. Powerful, revealing, and compulsively readable, this first Trade Review“This absorbing biography draws a three-dimensional picture of the life of Klaus Mann, novelist, playwright, essayist, gay rights advocate, and seemingly the unluckiest man of letters in the years around WWII.”—Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *“Spotts writes with humor and style, and a great admiration for his subject, which makes this biography valuable for literary historians but also quite accessible to the general reader.”—Jewish Book Council * Jewish Book Council *“Like all the finest biographers, Spotts brings history to life. He enables the reader to grasp the deep anxieties experienced by someone whose political convictions threatened his professional livelihood. . . . Above all he tells the heart-breaking story of an intellectual who stood up for his beliefs in dark times and paid a highly personal price for his politics.”—Anna Katharina Schaffner, TLS -- Anna Katherina Schaffner * TLS *Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards in the Gay Memoir/Biography category. -- Lambda Literary Awards * Lambda Literary Foundation *

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Book SynopsisIn this richly illustrated portrait, a prize-winning biographer surveys the entire sweep of William Blake's creative work while telling the story of his life William Blake, overlooked in his time, remains an enigmatic figure to contemporary readers despite his near canonical status. Out of a wounding sense of alienation and dividedness he created a profoundly original symbolic language, in which words and images unite in a unique interpretation of self and society. He was a counterculture prophet whose art still challenges us to think afresh about almost every aspect of experiencesocial, political, philosophical, religious, erotic, and aesthetic. He believed that we live in the midst of Eternity here and now, and that if we could open our consciousness to the fullness of being, it would be like experiencing a sunrise that never ends. Following Blake's life from beginning to end, acclaimed biographer Leo Damrosch draws extensively on Blake's poems, his paintings, and his etchings and engravings to offer this generously illustrated account of Blake the man and his vision of our world. The author's goal is to inspire the reader with the passion he has for his subject, achieving the imaginative response that Blake himself sought to excite. The book is an invitation to understanding and enjoyment, an invitation to appreciate Blake's imaginative world and, in so doing, to open the doors of our perception.Trade Review"Lucid and absorbing . . . [with] an attractive hint of a secret passion [and] an unusual sense of ease and intimacy with Blake’s work."—Michael Wood, New York Times Book Review"[An] excellent book, . . . [aiming] to be introductory in the best sense: 'to help nonspecialists appreciate Blake’s profoundly original vision and . . . the symbols in which he conveyed it.' . . . Scores of illustrations and color plates give us a small portion of Blake’s countless prints, engravings and watercolor designs, and his career is treated with admirable fullness."—William Pritchard, Wall Street Journal"Wise and original."—Rosie Schaap, New York Times Magazine"An outstanding book . . . [combining] learned analysis with a warm and conversational style. . . . [Its] primary distinction . . . is its intricate analysis of the relation between Blake’s verse and his vivid paintings and etchings — beautifully reproduced here in abundant color plates and illustrations."—Michael Lindgren, Washington Post"Damrosch’s readings are nuanced, sensitive, and deeply perceptive, touched with wonder at the poet’s originality and alive to the ways that Blake’s beliefs presented 'a wide-ranging challenge to orthodox morality.' With generous illustrations, including a gallery of breathtaking full-color plates, Damrosch’s study will build an appreciation among scholars and general readers alike for Blake’s 'vast, complicated myth' and reinforce his place in the Western canon as a 'profound thinker' and creative genius 'not in a single art but in two.'"—Publishers Weekly, starred review"Damrosch captures Blake’s creativity in all its complexity, bringing to life his work as a poet, engraver and painter in a revolutionary age."—Nicholas Roe, Literary Review"Leans heavily on the poetry, etchings and engravings, the works illustrating the man . . . this attractive volume would make a delightful present."—Robert Carver, The Tablet"This book is written in a very accessible style, is peppered with analogies and punctuated with dry wit . . . a very good read and a healthy addition to the subject."—St John Simpson, British Museum Magazine"The book’s strength in its sumptuous colour reproductions of Blake’s artwork and in Damrosch’s attentive reading of them."—Hilary Davies, The TabletNew York Times Book Review, Editors’ ChoiceA Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2015Finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle award in the criticism categoryShortlisted for the 2016 Christian Gauss Award given by the Phi Beta Kappa Society"This astute, generously illustrated study is an excellent introduction to William Blake. It will help both new and experienced readers to understand Blake as poet, painter, engraver, printer—and as a person."—Andrew Lincoln, Queen Mary University of London"Leo Damrosch’s luminous new book on William Blake forsakes esoteric scholarship and addresses itself to the common reader who is invited to a festive celebration of the great English poet who was also an extraordinary visual artist and a profound and original thinker."—Harold Bloom

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Book SynopsisFrom the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a meditation on the deeply Jewish and surprisingly spiritual roots of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics Few artists have had as much of an impact on American popular culture as Stan Lee. The characters he createdSpider-Man and Iron Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Fouroccupy Hollywood's imagination and production schedules, generate billions at the box office, and come as close as anything we have to a shared American mythology. This illuminating biography focuses as much on Lee's ideas as it does on his unlikely rise to stardom. It surveys his cultural and religious upbringing and draws surprising connections between celebrated comic book heroes and the ancient tales of the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. Was Spider-Man just a reincarnation of Cain? Is the Incredible Hulk simply Adam by another name? From close readings of Lee's work to little-known anecdotes from Marvel's history, the book paints a portrait of Lee that goes much deeper Trade Review"Mr. Leibovitz provides fresh interpretations of the Marvel universe, itself a super-heroic feat. Lee’s contentious heroes, he finds, take their cue from the Talmud, which unveiled spiritual truths through the clash of opposing interpretations."—Michael Saler, Wall Street Journal“The Marvel and DC universes are almost certainly the most extensive pieces of continuous narrative in human history—which should commend them to the attention of anybody interested in culture…The Jewishness of the early comics industry…is ever present in the story…[and] Leibovitz drills deeply into this.”—Sam Leith, ProspectCHOICE 2021 Outstanding Academic Title“Liel Leibovitz’s Stan Lee: A Life in Comics interprets Lee’s and his collaborators’ Marvel co-creations—such as the X-Men and Spider-Man—in a uniquely Jewish context, bringing fresh insights and added dimension to characters whose genius lies, in part, in their ability to credibly sustain such interpretations.”—Danny Fingeroth, author of A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee“From one of our most incisive Jewish cultural critics—someone who is equally at home in the history of Jewish thought and text and the pop culture world of the postwar period—this is a thoroughly entertaining, deeply intelligent, and highly thoughtful work.”—Jeremy Dauber, author of Jewish Comedy: A Serious History

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Book SynopsisAn intimate portrait of two pivotal Restoration figures during one of the most dramatic periods of English history Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn are two of the most celebrated English diarists. They were also extraordinary men and close friends. This first full portrait of that friendship transforms our understanding of their times. Pepys was earthy and shrewd, while Evelyn was a genteel aesthete, but both were drawn to intellectual pursuits. Brought together by their work to alleviate the plight of sailors caught up in the Dutch wars, they shared an inexhaustible curiosity for life and for the exotic. Willes explores their mutual interestsdiary-keeping, science, travel, and a love of booksand their divergent enthusiasms, Pepys for theater and music, Evelyn for horticulture and garden design. Through the richly documented lives of two remarkable men, Willes revisits the history of London and of England in an age of regicide, revolution, fire, and plague to reveal it also as a time of enthralling possibility.Trade Review“Two centuries on, this scholarly and readable book brings the two men together again. The result, the biographical equivalent of a buddy film, is both entertaining and unexpectedly revealing about the extraordinary times they lived in.”—Andrew Taylor, Times (London)"Ms. Willes brings Evelyn and Pepys fully and vibrantly to life. She makes the reader feel their foibles, their virtues, their pleasure and their pain; and on almost every page there is a detail to be thought about, recorded, relayed. It is a fitting tribute to two figures who so cherished curiosity—and who did so much to contribute to the curiosity of their age."—Economist“Willes’s book is produced by Yale to its usual high standard, sumptuously illustrated and beautifully printed. Those connoisseurs of book production Pepys and Evelyn would have handled and read it with pleasure and added it to their own collections.”—Richard Chartres, Church Times“Willes’s engaging, lavishly illustrated book. . . works well, replacing chronology with a close-up history of the dynamic, turbulent world of Restoration England.”—Barbara Taylor, Guardian“Our two most famous chroniclers, the prematurely curmudgeonly John Evelyn and debauched, upwardly mobile Samuel Pepys . . . This is an excellent book to give wider context on the lives and times of Pepys and Evelyn, and as a starting point to explore London life during this period."—Stephen Coulson, The Lady “Excellent and erudite.”—Gerald Isaaman, Camden New Journal“Margaret Willes is an elegant and perceptive writer . . .This exercise in contrast and compare illuminates both.”—Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Country Life“Excellent”—William Baker, The Year’s Work in English Studies"Margaret Willes paints an increasingly detailed - and always fascinating - picture of seventeenth-century London. Both Samuel Pepys's frank Diary and John Evelyn's anxiously tidied account of the first years of the Restoration remain vivid today. Willes's book is a 'must' for anyone interested in people, or London, or the growth of society after the King returned."—Liza Picard, author of Restoration London. "Glorious! Not only does Margaret Willes shed bright new light on two of the 17th century's most endearing characters, she recreates the worlds they inhabited with remarkable elegance and clarity."—Adrian Tinniswood, author of His Invention So Fertile: A Life of Christopher Wren."This is a well-researched, illuminating and enjoyable book. Evelyn and Pepys lived through some of the most dramatic events in English history: regicide, plague, the Great Fire and revolution. These great diarists have left us unique and valuable insights into their world, when advances were being made in scientific thought, gardening, medicine, and international trade, despite the perils of the times. This book captures that energy and weaves details drawn from the writings of both men into a colourful and convincing panorama of seventeenth-century London."—Dr. Margarette Lincoln, Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London and Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

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Book SynopsisA fascinating history of Jorge Luis Borges's efforts to revolutionize and revitalize literature in Latin AmericaTrade Review“Nora C. Benedict’s book is a masterclass in meticulous archival research and its rigorous application in literary studies.”—Ian Ellison, Modern Language Review“Nora Benedict’s illuminating book is an essential contribution to the understanding of Borges’ relationship to the written word. The portrait of Borges as writer and reader is now made complete with Benedict’s exploration of Borges as editor.”—Alberto Manguel, director, Center for Research into the History of Reading“Offering us a complex view of Borges’s creative process and drawing on extensive archival work, Benedict demonstrates how his fictions and ideas are interconnected with the materiality of the book and the networks of cultural institutions. This is an essential book for specialists in Borges as well as in modern literature.”—Graciela Montaldo, Columbia University“Using a bibliographical lens, Benedict brings into sharp focus an innovative view of Borges and his work, as not only one of the world’s great twentieth-century authors, but also as contributor, reviewer, anthologist, editor, and publisher. The result is a fresh and richer understanding of Borges and his accomplishments.”—Michael Winship, University of Texas at Austin“Benedict’s impressive archival, print media, and network analyses demonstrate how Borges’s multiple roles as writer, editor, translator, anthologizer, and publisher charted new ways of publishing and reading, from the Argentine book world to the global world of books.”—Marcy Schwartz, author of Public Pages: Reading along the Latin American Streetscape“In this important book, based on painstaking research, Nora Benedict sheds important new light on Borges’ activities in the Argentine publishing industry in the middle decades of the twentieth century, when that country was dominant in the world of Spanish language publishing. Highly recommended.”—Daniel Balderston, director, Borges Center at the University of Pittsburgh

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Book SynopsisThis first full length biography of Constance Fenimore Woolson reaffirms her literary stature and evokes her dramatic life.Trade Review"Rioux vividly evokes Woolson’s struggles to choose independence and a writer’s life over domesticity, and gives a convincing reappraisal of her work." -- Ten books to read in February - BBC Culture"... Rioux’s book makes a strong case for reassessing this contemporary and close friend of Henry James (and “contributor to his conception” of his heroine Isabel Archer) whose work presages Edith Wharton..." -- Times Higher Education"Rioux is strong on the context of Woolson’s writing and this book is an excellent guide to her work." -- The Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisFour decades of correspondence of Tennessee Williams's and James Laughlin's unlikely yet enduring literary and personal relationship.Trade Review"Ultimately these letters show us that while Tennessee Williams’s own tragic ending left theatre the poorer for it, their unique insight in to one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century leaves us all the richer." -- The Irish Times

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Book SynopsisPulitzer Prize–winning author John Matteson illuminates three harrowing months of the American Civil War and their enduring legacy.

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable, ridiculous, rain-soaked story of Shakespeare's Jubilee: the event that established William Shakespeare as the greatest writer of all time.Trade Review"McConnell Stott’s wildly exuberant new book... has brought this odd and oddly resonant event to enchanting and illuminating life." -- Simon Callow - The Sunday Times"McConnell Stott writes with a clear brisk style and also an evident enjoyment of language..." -- Times Literary Supplement"... highly entertaining book... sharp-eyed and funny account... Stott’s book is a glorious study of the mother of all heritage events, and it’s an excellent reminder of why they should be avoided like the plague." -- Emma Smith, Book of the Week - The Guardian"... curious, passionate revisions of the Shakespearean myth... remind me why I came to enjoy Shakespeare so much in the first place." -- Emma Smith - Literary Review"This is the hilarious tale of a poorly organised three-day festival in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1769 that launched the bard into the mega-celeb he is today... A comedy of errors as funny as Twenty Twelve." -- Literature Books of the Year 2019 - The Sunday Times"... lively account..." -- 100 sizzling summer books - Mail Online"On the non-fiction side I enjoyed What Blest Genius? by Andrew McConnell Stott, a diverting account of the Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769 in Stratford-upon-Avon..." -- Nick Curtis, The Best Books of 2019 - Evening Standard

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Book SynopsisRediscover the beloved classic Little Women and its lasting power as it celebrates its 150th anniversary.Trade Review"Highly entertaining and eminently sane…[Rioux] paints a compelling portrait of Alcott, giving us fascinating insights into the creation of Little Women." -- Charlotte Gordon - The Washington Post"Thoughtful… An adroit consideration of Alcott and her milieu." -- Meghan Cox Gurdon - The Wall Street Journal"Anne Boyd Rioux's book, published to coincide with Little Women's 150th anniversary, is a compact but rich account of Alcott's life, how she came to write her most famous and enduring work, and its effect on her and American literature... [a] satisfying, balanced but punchy tribute to Alcott's great work..." -- Lucy Mangan - The Spectator"Rioux gives an enthralling account of how Little Women broke new ground – with realistic girls who spoke in ‘vulgar’ slang, lost their tempers, had career plans and, if they did get married, found it pretty hard work... This delightful read had me leaping to grab Little Women and its two sequels off the bookshelf immediately." -- The Mail on Sunday"...highly companionable and illuminating..." -- Vanity Fair"Lively and informative…Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy does what—ideally—books about books can do: I’ve taken Little Women down from my shelf and put it on top of the books I plan to read." -- Francine Prose - The New York Times Book Review"Rioux considers the cultural impact and enduring popularity of Louisa May Alcott’s American Civil War-set novel Little Women, a runaway success since it was first published 150 years ago." -- The top page-turners of 2018: History - Mail on Sunday

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Book SynopsisThe untold story of the mother and daughter who opened the door to Emily Dickinson's poetry.Trade Review"... angering but finally inspiring After Emily…" -- New Statesman

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Book SynopsisA voracious pack-rat, Mark Twain hoarded his readers' letters as did few of his contemporaries. This title collects 200 of these letters written by a diverse cross-section of correspondents from around the world - children, farmers, schoolteachers, businessmen, preachers, con artists, and even a former president.Trade Review"Well-selected, thoroughly researched and thoughtfully annotated-a surprising, welcome addition to the apparently endless Twain shelf." Kirkus Reviews "It is a special delight to read Twain's interactions with the readers who made him 19th-century America's most popular writer." -- Alexander Nazaryan New York Daily News "Kent Rasmussen has done it again: he has come up with a book that will give every Twainiac and lots of others with only a casual interest in Mark Twain much enjoyment and a non-trivial amount of insight into one of the most remarkable writers the world has ever known." -- Shelley Fisher Fishkin Mark Twain Forum "A magnificent, remarkably researched book." -- Maria Popova Maria Popova, Brain Pickings "The content is diverse and intriguing... Verdict: Rasmussen is clearly an expert curator and researcher. Fans of Twain and most libraries will want to secure a copy." -- Stacy Russo Library Journal "A devoted Samuel Clemons/Mark Twain fan will want to pick up this book and will appreciate Rasmussen's research." -- Chris Stuckenschneider Missourian "This series of letters makes delightful reading." -- Aron Row San Francisco Book Review and Sacramento Book Review "Over the past two decades Kent Rasmussen has consistently produced some of the most useful, practically minded, and accessible scholarship in Mark Twain studies. With Dear Mark Twain: Letters from His Readers, Rasmussen comes through again... Rasmussen enlarges what we know of Mark Twain from his correspondence as it provides the most substantive understanding yet of who were buying his books and reading him in newspapers and magazines at the turn of the century. As such, this collection will be of interest to Mark twain specialists, students of American literary and cultural studies, and general readers alike." -- Joseph Csicsila Mark Twain AnnualTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Foreword by Ron Powers Introduction Note on Texts Letters 1861--1870 1871--1880 1881--1890 1891--1900 1901--1910 Note on Sources Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisThe Life of William Shakespeare is a fascinating and wide-ranging exploration of Shakespeare''s life and works focusing on oftern neglected literary and historical contexts: what Shakespeare read, who he worked with as an author and an actor, and how these various collaborations may have affected his writing. Written by an eminent Shakespearean scholar and experienced theatre reviewer Pays particular attention to Shakespeare''s theatrical contemporaries and the ways in which they influenced his writing Offers an intriguing account of the life and work of the great poet-dramatist structured around the idea of memory Explores often neglected literary and historical contexts that illuminate Shakespeare''s life and works Trade Review“Two of the Mighty dead have been brought back to life in exemplary fashion: Shakespeare in Lois Potter’s The Life of William Shakespeare: A Critical Biography, which very cleverly uses expert theatre-knowledge as a way of making her enigmatic subject seem plausibly substantial; and Keats in Nicholas Roe’s John Keats: A New Life, which puts the poet properly in his place.” (The Guardian, 24 November 2012) “This study will have wide appeal to readers who wish to expand their appreciation of the works of William Shakespeare. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.” (Choice, 1 November 2012) “These form the narrative spine of this richly suggestive, undogmatic book in which Lois Potter ranges across the entire canon and the period that helped produce it.” (Around the Globe, 1 October 2012) “Lois Potter’s Life of William Shakespeare, ranks with the most distinguished examples of its kind … Her achievement lies in her catholicity, her simultaneous commitment to matters personal, historical, theatrical, literary, cultural. She exhibits an absolute command of the available facts, a lifetime’s acquaintance with the works gained in teaching and playgoing, an unparalleled familiarity with theatrical history from 1567 to the present, and a talent for connecting the fictional and the actual.” (Times Literary Supplement, 10 August 2012)Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vi Preface and Acknowledgments vii List of Abbreviations x The Shakespeare Family Tree xii 1 “Born into the World”: 1564–1571 1 2 “Nemo SibiNascitur”: 1571–1578 21 3 “Hic et Ubique”: 1578–1588 40 4 “This Man’s Art and That Man’s Scope”: 1588–1592 64 5 “Tigers’ Hearts”: 1592–1593 86 6 “The Dangerous Year”: 1593–1594 106 7 “Our Usual Manager of Mirth”: 1594–1595 134 8 “The Strong’st and Surest Way to Get”: Histories, 1595–1596 162 9 “When Love Speaks”: Tragedy and Comedy, 1595–1596 181 10 “You Had a Father; Let Your Son Say So”: 1596–1598 201 11 “Unworthy Scaffold”: 1598–1599 231 12 “These Words Are Not Mine”: 1599–1601 258 13 “Looking Before and After”: 1600–1603 277 14 “This Most Balmy Time”: 1603–1605 300 15 “Past the Size of Dreaming”: 1606–1609 330 16 “Like an Old Tale”: 1609–1611 360 17 “The Second Burden”: 1612–1616 384 18 “In the Mouths of Men”: 1616 and After 414 Bibliography 443 Index 475

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Book SynopsisWhen Gandhi as a young lawyer in South Africa began fashioning the tenets of his political philosophy, he was absorbed by a seemingly unrelated enterprise: creating a newspaper, Indian Opinion. In Gandhi’s Printing Press Isabel Hofmeyr provides an account of how this footnote to a career shaped the man who would become the world-changing Mahatma.Trade ReviewReconstructing a little-known episode in Gandhi's life, Hofmeyr places surprising new findings about a particular historical figure in the service of a radically new theory of reading. This ambitious and deeply researched book holds lessons for historians, literary theorists, and anyone interested in reading practices. -- Leah Price, Harvard UniversityThe connection between Gandhi and the lively Indian Ocean world of small printing presses is something that has almost entirely escaped the attention of historians of South Asia and scholars of print culture so far. Hofmeyr explores this crucial space with rare vigor and sophistication. -- Ajay Skaria, University of MinnesotaGandhi was one of history's most avid experimenters. His most audacious forms of utopianism were often nothing more than simple and ingenious experiments. Hofmeyr tells the remarkable story, with elegance and great learning, of how Gandhi imagined a radically different world simply by attending to the potentialities of the printing press. Very few books on Gandhi capture the minutiae and horizons of his world with such riveting intelligence. -- Uday Mehta, City University of New YorkThis slim volume sparks more ideas than are typically generated by a book three times its size. -- John Wilson * Books & Culture *While he was a young attorney in South Africa at the outset of the 20th century, Gandhi was also 'a sometime proprietor' of the press that printed the influential Indian Opinion newspaper, whose production formed, for the burgeoning activist, a crash course in the synthesizing of public opinion, news, and progressive thought. Located on an ashram outside the port city of Durban, the press allowed Gandhi and his cohorts to explore 'new kinds of ethical selves,' bringing together as it did 'different castes, religions, languages, races, and genders.' In Hofmeyr's portrait, Gandhi emerges as a surprisingly keen publicist and media strategist, willing to buck the system (e.g., copyright laws) in the service of social change. She also offers a fascinating take on Gandhi's mode of 'contemplative reading,' one characterized by the merging of the text with a receptive mind via 'pausing and perseverance,' all with an aim of cumulative progress. Indeed, Gandhi read as he led. This thoughtful account is a compelling preview of the colonial subcontinent's development, as well as Gandhi's eventual role as peaceful emancipator of his own country. * Publishers Weekly *Gandhi's espousal of free reproduction of material and repudiation of copyright--consider this throwaway line: 'Gandhi would have been a Wikipedian'--and his theories of slow reading, in which readers ponder and memorize the text and 'labor' for the paper, will provide food for thought in an age of Internet reading. -- Ravi Shenoy * Library Journal *Deepens our understanding of Gandhi in South Africa by giving us a history of his International Printing Press...His sparse, unadorned, direct prose had much to do with his early training in writing for Indian Opinion...The book also reflects on various printed forms--the newspaper, the periodical, the pamphlet--and their significance in not just creating a print culture but also in forging a people and sustaining a movement. The most significant part of the work is a theory of reading that Hofmeyr discerns through her examination of Indian Opinion and the Hind Swaraj (1909). Can one actually create modes of writing (and printing) that, while located within the modern realm, can militate against modernity? She shows that Gandhi consciously tried to cultivate a style of writing that required slow, meditative reading; his purpose was to adjust the act of reading to unhurried bodily rhythms not subject to the fast pace that he considered the chief signifier of the industrial age. He even tried to slow down the process of printing by dispensing with the oil machine that ran the press and instead employed manual labour to run it. In this way, Hofmeyr's elucidation of the manner in which a satyagrahi reads illuminates our understanding of Gandhi's modes of writing and discoursing. -- Tridip Suhrud * The Caravan *Fascinating...Isabel Hofmeyr discusses and analyses the origin and nature of [periodicals published by Gandhi], focusing on Indian Opinion and Hind Swaraj, and shows how their specific nature reflected Gandhian thought. Of particular interest is Hofmeyr's slant towards Gandhi's views on reading, which resonates with our fragmented, frantic age. -- Sanjay Sipahimalani * Sunday Guardian *The author draws us easily into a history that is varied, interesting and little understood. And in understanding philosophers like Thoreau through Gandhiji, one revisits and is astounded by them once more. The book is a welcome addition to readings on the Mahatma. -- Mallika Sarabhai * Indian Express *Beginning in Durban, South Africa, in 1898, Mohandas Gandhi became the guiding hand of a printing press and the multilingual newspaper it produced, Indian Opinion. Hofmeyr provides an account at once charming and erudite of Gandhi's vision of printing and the press in relation to Phoenix, the ashram from which the press largely was operated. She also examines the press in relation to the wider satyagraha movement, Gandhi's unique understanding of the quest for truth, and to Gandhi's thinking about empire, nationalism, race, sovereignty, and self-rule. Gandhi first developed his ideas of satyagraha while working with and for the Indian community in South Africa, and much of his thinking was first communicated in the pages of Indian Opinion. Hofmeyr’s careful study of the literary character of the newspaper dispels the idea that the journalistic format was hurried and thus lacking in care. She provides ample evidence that Gandhi saw the paper as comprised of clippings and articles that needed to be read and reread, slowly and thoughtfully. This attempt to integrate many levels of Gandhi's activity will surprise and reward all readers. -- C. A. Colmo * Choice *Hofmeyr has produced a work so exquisitely engaging and so vitally relevant to our age that anyone who reads enough to be concerned about the future of reading should take up this riveting little book. -- Kapil Komireddi * Daily Beast *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe Boatman offers the first sustained account of what Henry Thoreau was doing on the local rivers before and after he sojourned at Walden Pond. Thoreau’s water world engaged his mind and eye, involved him in a major political dispute, and led him to far-reaching scientific insights. Paddling and sailing on the nearby waterways, Thoreau discerned a natural world transformed by human action, to the loss of the communities of all the living creatures who depended on it for survival. Explicating these insights into the ecology of rivers and into the power of ‘the wild,’ Robert Thorson reminds us why Thoreau is so essential to our environmentally imperiled times. -- Robert A. Gross, author of The Minutemen and Their WorldThe Boatman presents a whole new Thoreau—the river rat. This is not just groundbreaking, but fun. Thorson pursues not footsteps of the solitary woodsman but the wake left by Thoreau’s skiff. As always with Thoreau, one of the deepest pleasures comes from the idea that we can rediscover and resettle our home places, and what better and more exciting way to do this than on the water? If Thorson had just done this, the book would have been valuable enough, but his story of Thoreau’s self-education in hydrology, of his turning himself into a scientific expert on the local rivers and in rivers in general, and of his involvement in a class-action suit to tear down the Billerica dam, make this an important book. -- David Gessner, author of All the Wild That RemainsA scrupulous account of the environment Thoreau loved most and, important for our day, the ways in which he expressed this passion in the face of ecological degradation…Thorson argues convincingly—sometimes beautifully—that Thoreau’s thinking and writing were integrally connected to paddling and sailing…With the meticulous care of a modern geologist, he excavates Thoreau’s journals, notebooks and correspondence, concentrating on the last years of the naturalist’s life and exposing the way he became what today we would call a fluvial geomorphologist, an environmental scientist devoted to understanding the form and function of rivers. -- John Kaag * Wall Street Journal *Thorson argues that Thoreau ‘properly interpreted most of the key ideas of fluvial geomorphology a half century before the subject was invented.’ He was, in Thorson’s words, ‘a lone genius’ whose contributions to science we’ve too long ignored…Part of what makes Thorson’s work on Thoreau so unusual is that he hardly bothers with literary, political, or intellectual approaches to his subject at all—he’s after data, and when he finds it, he checks it, weighing it against today’s best practices. (Thorson has generously posted all of this research online.) He comes away from his historical data-crunching deeply impressed with Thoreau’s skill…The Boatman is an impressive feat of empirical research, and Thorson’s conclusions are an important contribution to the scholarship on Thoreau as natural scientist. -- Daegan Miller * Los Angeles Review of Books *The Boatman presents the ‘wetter side’ of Thoreau as he surveyed and boated on the ‘three blue highways of navigable water flanked by open bays, lush meadows, and rocky cliffs’ that were part of his native habitat. -- Jay Parini * Times Literary Supplement *Years of meticulous research by geologist Thorson went into the making of this penetrating, revelatory book that delves into Thoreau’s pioneering work in river science. -- Dianne Timblin * American Scientist *Thorson’s book offers the reader an in-depth account of Thoreau’s lifelong love of boats, his skill as a navigator, his intimate knowledge of the waterways around Concord, and his extensive survey of the Concord River. -- Robert Pogue Harrison * New York Review of Books *

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