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"Lucid, elegantly written...there is just enough shrewd literary analysis to make us understand why this prodigally gifted writer so richly deserves an audience beyond the 12th grade."--Daily Beast

"Deeply researched and fluidly readable."--New York Times

"The best kind of literary biography, one likely to send the reader back (or perhaps for the first time) to the author's works."--Washington Post

"Essential. . . . Studiously researched and measured. . . . The great strength of 'Thornton Wilder: A Life' is how well it fuses the early years of the Wilder biography with the themes that informed his works."--Chicago Tribune

"Capacious and authoritative."--Harper's Magazine

"Almost everybody knows OUR TOWN, but very few people really know Thornton Wilder. Penelope Niven's fascinating biography changes that once and for all...Meticulously researched, Niven's book reads like a riveting novel."----James Earl Jones

"This new biography of Wilder -- comprehensive and wisely fashioned -- gives us sufficient view of his methods, his public and private life, and the reaches of his mind...This book is a splendid and long needed work."----Edward Albee

"The author admits to a 'decade of close study of . . . primary sources' in preparation for her biography of distinguished American novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder. The result, fully displayed on every page of this definitive treatment, is a joyous presentation of detail."--Booklist (starred review)

"Fast-paced and engaging, this work is essential for academic readers with an interest in American literature and culture. It will also appeal to the more general reader of American biography."--Library Journal (starred review)

"Niven complements her own clear, lyrical voice with the eloquent words of Steichen's contemporaries."--New York Times Book Review on Steichen: A Biography