An instant New York Times bestseller, this âexplosive biographyâ (People) of one of the most beloved and mysterious figures of the twentieth century is âas close as weâll ever get to being inside J.D. Salingerâs headâ (Entertainment Weekly).
This ârevealingâ (The New York Times) and âengrossingâ (The Wall Street Journal) oral biography, âfascinating and uniqueâ (The Washington Post) and âan unmitigated successâ (USA TODAY), has redefined our understanding of one of the most mysterious figures of the twentieth century.
In nine years of work on Salinger, and especially in the years since the authorâs death, David Shields and Shane Salerno interviewed more than 200 people on five continents, many of whom had previously refused to go on the record about their relationship with Salinger. This oral biography offers direct eyewitness accounts from Salingerâs World War II brothers-in-arms, his family members, his close friends, his lovers, his classmates, his neighbors, his editors, his publishers, his New Yorker colleagues, and people with whom he had relationships that were secret even to his own family. Their intimate recollections are supported by more that 175 photos (many never seen before), diaries, legal records, and private documents that are woven throughout; in addition, appearing here for the first time, are Salingerâs âlost lettersââranging from the 1940s to 2008, revealing his intimate views on love, literature, fame, religion, war, and death, and providing a raw and revelatory self-portrait.
The result is âunprecedentedâ (Associated Press), âgenuinely valuableâ (Time), and âstrips away the sheen of [Salingerâs] exceptionalism, trading in his genius for something much more realâ (Los Angeles Times). According to the Sunday Times of London, Salinger is âa stupendous workâŚI predict with the utmost confidence that, after this, the world will not need another Salinger biography.â