Thornton Wilder: A Life
&#8220;The author admits to a &#8216;decade of close study of . . . primary sources&#8217; in preparation for her biography of distinguished American novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder. The result, fully displayed on every page of this definitive treatment, is a joyous presentation of detail.&#8221; (Booklist (starred review))&#8220;Fast-paced and engaging, this work is essential for academic readers with an interest in American literature and culture. It will also appeal to the more general reader of American biography.&#8221; (Library Journal (starred review))&#8220;Lucid, elegantly written...there is just enough shrewd literary analysis to make us understand why this prodigally gifted writer so richly deserves an audience beyond the 12th grade.&#8221; (Daily Beast)&#8220;Capacious and authoritative.&#8221; (Harper's Magazine)&#8220;Deeply researched and fluidly readable.&#8221; (New York Times)&#8220;The best kind of literary biography, one likely to send the reader back (or perhaps for the first time) to the author&#8217;s works.&#8221; (Washington Post)&#8220;Essential. . . . Studiously researched and measured. . . . The great strength of &#8216;Thornton Wilder: A Life&#8217; is how well it fuses the early years of the Wilder biography with the themes that informed his works.&#8221; (Chicago Tribune)&#8220;Niven complements her own clear, lyrical voice with the eloquent words of Steichen&#8217;s contemporaries...&#8221; (New York Times Book ReviewonCarl Sandburg: A Biography)&#8220;Niven complements her own clear, lyrical voice with the eloquent words of Steichen&#8217;s contemporaries.&#8221; (New York Times Book ReviewonSteichen: A Biography)&#8220;Almost everybody knows OUR TOWN, but very few people really know Thornton Wilder. Penelope Niven&#8217;s fascinating biography changes that once and for all&#8230;Meticulously researched, Niven&#8217;s book reads like a riveting novel.&#8221; (&#151;James Earl Jones)&#8220;This new biography of Wilder -- comprehensive and wisely fashioned -- gives us sufficient view of his methods, his public and private life, and the reaches of his mind&#8230;This book is a splendid and long needed work.&#8221; (&#151;Edward Albee)