Thornton Wilder

The definitive biography of the great American playwright: a "fine-grained, sympathetic portrait" with a foreword by Edward Albee ( The New York Times). Thornton Wilder—three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, creator of such enduring stage works as  Our Town and  The Skin of Our Teeth, and beloved novels like  Bridge of San Luis Ray and  Theophilus North—was much more than a pivotal figure in twentieth century American theater and literature. He was also a traveler, a teacher, a scholar, a soldier, an outspoken citizen, and a complex, intensely private man. In  Thornton Wilder: A Life, biographer Penelope Niven pulls back the curtain to present a fascinating portrait one of America's greatest literary icons. With unprecedented access to Wilder's papers, including his family's private journals and records, Niven shows the many sides of this multifaceted man, including his relationship to his two brilliant parents, four gifted siblings, and the specter of his twin brother lost at birth. "Comprehensive and wisely fashioned. . . . A splendid and long needed work." —Edward Albee, playwright