Ross and Tom: Two American Tragedies
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Book Overview
Here, at last back in print, is the classic dual biography of Ross Lockridge and Thomas Heggen, two authors who achieved sudden fame and fortune and then self-destructed. Ross Lockridge, the author of the spectacularly best-selling Raintree County, and Thomas Heggen, the creator of Mister Roberts, both were thrust in the 1940s into unexpected fame and money. Each was young and inexperienced in the ways of the world. John Leggett explores their lives, their loves, their friendships, and their writing and publishing experiences to discover what ultimately and tragically failed them. Ross and Tom portrays two gifted writers and their final descent into that Fitzgeraldian crack-up where "in the real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning."
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0306809923
ISBN13:9780306809927
Release Date:September 2000
Publisher:Da Capo
Length:472 Pages
Weight:1.35 lbs.
Dimensions:1.1" x 6.1" x 9.1"
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
Two Literary Tragedies
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
Before "narrative nonfiction" became a buzzword in publishing, John Leggett wrote this superb dual biography of Ross Lockridge and Tom Heggen, both of whom experienced fantastic early success which they couldn't follow, leading to depression and suicide. Although Lockridge's son Larry has recently published his biography of his father with an understandable mission to correct what he sees as failings in Leggett's book, I think Lockridge gives us far too much detail and insufficient drama.Leggett's book is tremendously readable, like a great novel, yet grounded in fact all the way. I only have one caveat, which is Leggett's attempt to interpret both writers' lives and deaths within some Freudian framework, but this is only done briefly and doesn't damage the book greatly. I've read Ross and Tom several times in the twenty odd years since I first bought a used hardcover edition, and it is a great book.
A biography that has stayed with me for 20 years
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
I have treasured the hardcover of this book since it came out. If you are interested in the lives of writers, or the price of early success, or just in a brilliant biography, you should read this book.
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