Possibly one of the most influential figure in the history of American letters, William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was, among other things, a leading novelist in the realist tradition. This biography traces the writer's life from his boyhood in Ohio, to his consularship in Italy under President Lincoln, to his rise as editor of "Atlantic Monthly".
"I found this book hard to put down. Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson have written a highly readable, thoroughly researched, and well-balanced life of a major literary figure. Howells really comes alive for us in these pages."-Robert Richardson, Jr., author of Emerson: The Mind on Fire and Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind
"Behind the public image of the this man of letters, Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson have shown William Dean Howells to have been a complicated and painfully honest man in an era of political corruption, industrial greed, and American imperialism. This biography is a major accomplishment, massive in scope and engaging in its narrative. A terrific read."-Jerome Loving, author of The Last Titan: A Life of Theodore Dreiser and Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself
"William Dean Howells: A Writer's Life will be one of the most important literary biographies in years."-Linda Wagner-Martin, author of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald: An American Woman's Life
