Richard R. Lingeman

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sinclair Lewis mocked such sacrosanct institutions as the small town (Main Street), business (Babbitt), medicine (Arrowsmith), and religion (Elmer Gantry). In this definitive biography, Richard Lingeman presents an empathetic, absorbing, and balanced portrait of an eccentric alcoholic-workaholic whose novels and stories exploded shibboleths with a volatile mixture of caricature and realism. Drawing on newly uncovered correspondence, diaries, and criticism, Lingeman gives new life to this prairie Mercutio out of Sauk Centre, Minnesota.

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 brought to the surface memories of an earlier time of unprecedented national emergencyPearl Harborand America's subsequent involvement in World War II. In this evocative cultural history, Richard Lingeman re-creates the eventshistoric, humorous, and tragicand personalities of the American home front. From V-girls and V-mail, blackouts and the internment of the Japanese, to new opportunities for African-Americans and women, Lingeman recaptures a unique time in American history in this New York Times Notable Book.