Joseph Heller was a Coney Island kid, the son of Russian immigrants, and a military vet whose experiences flying missions over France during World War II would become the inspiration for an American classic, CATCH-22. Throughout his life, Heller was well-loved and surrounded by famous friends, among them Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, Kurt Vonnegut, Mario Puzo, and Dustin Hoffmann. When he passed away in 1999, Heller left behind a body of work, including the novels SOMETHING HAPPENED, GOOD AS GOLD, and CLOSING TIME, that have remained in print and continue to influence readers throughout the world. JUST ONE CATCH is the first major biography of Yossarian’s creator, written with full cooperation from the Estate. (more…)

During the heyday of American letters in the early 1960s, a time when modernist writers such as Hemingway and Faulkner were still revered as giants of literature, Donald Barthelme broke with tradition and arguably became the father of the American postmodern movement. This is the first major biography of this important figure. It is a beguiling, sumptuous, and intimate portrait of an American master. (more…)

Speaking with survivors of the Murrah building bombing, revisiting his Texas and Oklahoma roots, and retracing the paths of exile and migration in the American West, Daugherty creates a diverse and heartfelt portrait of America in an uncertain time-its people, its politics, its music, and its poetry-a sobering but ultimately hopeful view of the national community. At heart an exploration, from an intimate vantage point, of the consequences of violence in contemporary America, Five Shades of Shadow will hold special resonance for readers struggling to come to terms with trauma and loss. (more…)