NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The inspiration for the major motion picture Rebel in the Rye One of the
most popular and mysterious figures in American literary history the author of the classic
Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger eluded fans and journalists for most of his life. Now he is
the subject of this definitive biography which is filled with new information and revelations
garnered from countless interviews letters and public records. Kenneth Slawenski explores
Salinger's privileged youth long obscured by misrepresentation and rumor revealing the
brilliant sarcastic vulnerable son of a disapproving father and doting mother. Here too are
accounts of Salinger's first broken heart-after Eugene O'Neill's daughter Oona left him-and
the devastating World War II service that haunted him forever. J. D. Salinger features this
author's dramatic encounters with luminaries from Ernest Hemingway to Elia Kazan his office
intrigues with famous New Yorker editors and writers and the stunning triumph of The Catcher
in the Rye which would both make him world-famous and hasten his retreat into the hills of New
Hampshire. J. D. Salinger is this unique author's unforgettable story in full-one that no lover
of literature can afford to miss. Praise for J. D. Salinger: A Life Startling . . . insightful
. . . [a] terrific literary biography.-USA Today It is unlikely that any author will do a
better job than Mr. Slawenski capturing the glory of Salinger's life.-The Wall Street Journal
Slawenski fills in a great deal and connects the dots assiduously it's unlikely that any
future writer will uncover much more about Salinger than he has done.-Boston Sunday Globe
Offers perhaps the best chance we have to get behind the myth and find the man.-Newsday
[Slawenski has] greatly fleshed out and pinned down an elusive story with precision and
grace.-Chicago Sun-Times Earnest sympathetic and perceptive . . . [Slawenski] does an
evocative job of tracing the evolution of Salinger's work and thinking.-The New York Times
