This biography of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), a giant of American literature who invented both the horror and detective genres, is a portrait of extremes: a disinherited heir, a brilliant but exploited author and editor, a man who veered radically from temperance to rampant debauchery, and an agnostic who sought a return to religion at the end of his life. Acclaimed biographer Jeffrey Meyers explores the writer's turbulent life and career, including his marriage and multiple, simultaneous romances, his literary feuds, and his death at an early age under bizarre and troubling circumstances.

This comprehensive biography of prolific critic, essayist, historian, and novelist Edmund Wilson (1895-1972) posits, quite successfully, that the subject lived a life as romantic and chaotic as his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald's. Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown and the tragic death of his second wife (he was married four times, among them, Mary McCarthy); had affairs with numerous beautiful women, including Edna St. Vincent Millay; and was friend to literary giants such as John Dos Passos, Vladimir Nabakov, and W.H. Auden.

Celebrated biographer, Jeffrey Meyers recounts the contradictory, tormented life of Joseph Conrad.

This definitive biography of a Hollywood icon portrays Gary Cooper as a man of complex and sophisticated tastes, as well as large appetites.

This biography is the story of Katherine Mansfield, the gifted and tragic artist best known for her polished satire and frequently anthologized short stories. Acclaimed biographer Meyers uses new sources to illuminate the troubled life of one of Great Britain's most gifted female authors.

Best known as the creator of the consulting detective par excellence Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a man of wide-ranging interests and talents, and his literary output went far beyond his Holmes and Watson stories. The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Reader collects works from all the genres in which he wrote, including mysteries, historical adventure tales, science fiction stories, ghost stories, plays, memoirs, essays on spiritualism (in which he was a dedicated believer) and reports on the Boer War and World War I. This collection features the account of Watson's first...

This masterly work offers an exciting recreation of the life and times of British novelist D.H. Lawrence.

Known to millions as the preeminent swashbuckler of the silver screen, Errol Flynn was a complex man who lived a life far more adventurous than any of his films. In My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn reveals himself to be a self-aware and cosmopolitan devotee of excitement and pleasure. With gusto, he recalls his years as a soldier of fortune in the South Seas, his trip to war-torn Spain, his battles in Hollywood with studio honchos (Jack Warner was a particular nemesis) and ex-wives (esp. Lili Damita), and the furor surrounding his trial for rape in 1943. Freely mixing verbal abuse and tall tales...

A frank and revealing portrait of Arthur Miller, as viewed through the lens of his relationship with Marilyn Monroe.