"One journalist's memoir of her personal friendship with Harper Lee and her sister, drawing on the extraordinary access they gave her to share the story of their lives. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the best loved novels of the twentieth century. But for the last fifty years, the novel's celebrated author, Harper Lee, has said almost nothing on the record. Journalists have trekked to her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, where Harper...

A full biography of Ernest Hemingway draws on a wide range of previously untapped material and offers particular insight into the private demons that both inspired and tormented him. "His writing was taken up with notions of human dignity and worth, 'the necessity of man's freedom, of personal honor,' notions by which a man should live and die in a world that had lost the possibility of hope. ('In life, one must [first of all] endure,' said Hemingway.)...

A brief biography of the author of the well-known children's classic, "The Wizzard of Oz."

The author and poet recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums. "Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou's debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother...

Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan, King Kull, and others that defined heroic fantasy, lived and died in the small town of Cross Plains, Texas. While his books remain in print, Howard himself has fallen into obscurity, his life mired in speculation and half-truth. This engaging biography traces the roots of his writings, correcting long-standing misconceptions, and offers a tour of Howard's world as he saw it: through his own incomparable imagination. This...

As a boy, Walter Dean Myers was quick-tempered and physically strong, always ready for a fight. He also read voraciously--he would check out books from the library and carry them home hidden in brown paper bags in order to avoid other boys' teasing. He aspired to be a writer. But growing up in a poor family is Harlem during the 1940s and 1950s, his hope for a successful future diminished as he came to realize fully the class and racial struggles that...

The author discusses her life, how she came to be a writer, where she gets her ideas from, and what is involved in producing a book.

Riveting, firsthand account of the events and men who set the world on fire, it is also the human story of a young American caught in these titanic events, struggling to survive and provide a normal life for himsel, his wife and daughter.

"Follows the Ingalls family's journey through Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, back to Minnesota, and on to Dakota Territory, [examining] sixteen years of travels, unforgettable experiences, and the everyday people who became immortal through Wilder's fiction. Using additional manuscripts, letters, photographs, newspapers, and other sources ... Wilder biographer Pamela Smith Hill adds ... context and leads readers through Wilder's growth...