{"product_id":"algren-a-life-9781613735329","title":"Algren: A Life","description":"\u003cb\u003eChicago Writers Association Nonfiction Book of the Year (2017) \u003cbr\u003e Society of Midland Authors Literary Award in Biography (2017)\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A tireless champion of the downtrodden, Nelson Algren, one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century, lived an outsider's life himself. He spent a month in prison as a young man for the theft of a typewriter; his involvement in Marxist groups earned him a lengthy FBI dossier; and he spent much of his life palling around with the sorts of drug addicts, prostitutes, and poor laborers who inspired and populated his novels and short stories. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Most today know Algren as the radical, womanizing writer of \u003ci\u003eThe Man with the Golden Arm\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the first National Book Award, in 1950, but award-winning reporter Mary Wisniewski offers a deeper portrait. Starting with his childhood in the City of Big Shoulders, Algren sheds new light on the writer's most momentous periods, from his on-again-off-again work for the WPA to his stint as an uninspired soldier in World War II to his long-distance affair with his most famous lover, Simone de Beauvoir, to the sense of community and acceptance Algren found in the artist colony of Sag Harbor before his death in 1981. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Wisniewski interviewed dozens of Algren's closest friends and inner circle, including photographer Art Shay and author and historian Studs Terkel, and tracked down much of his unpublished writing and correspondence. She unearths new details about the writer's life, work, personality, and habits and reveals a funny, sensitive, and romantic but sometimes exasperating, insecure, and self-destructive artist. biography The first new biography of Algren in over 25 years, this fresh look at the man whose unique style and compassionate message enchanted readers and fellow writers and whose boyish charm seduced many women is indispensable to anyone interested in 20-century American literature and history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Chicago Review Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781613735329\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.40w x 1.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/0001\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/12\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2016 pg. 78\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2016 pg. 9\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2017\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Mary Wisniewski","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42429198041269,"sku":"9781613735329","price":25.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_9e8f8e11-7b97-4c5e-b507-c13a92adcee4.jpg?v=1664892821","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/algren-a-life-9781613735329","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}