One of the most popular and mysterious figures in American literary history, J. D. Salinger eluded fans and journalists for most of his life. Now comes a new biography that Peter Ackroyd inThe Timesof London calls energetic and magnificently researched"-a book from which "a true picture of Salinger emerges." Filled with new information and revelations-garnered from countless interviews, letters, and public records-J. D. Salingerpresents an extraordinary life that spanned nearly the entire twentieth century. Kenneth Slawenski explores Salingerrs"s privileged youth, long obscured by misrepresentation and rumor, revealing the brilliant, sarcastic, vulnerable son of a disapproving father and doting mother and his entrance into a social world where Gloria Vanderbilt dismissively referred to him as a Jewish boy from New York. Here too are accounts of Salinger's first broken heart-Eugene Ors"Neillrs"s daughter, Oona, left him for the much older Charlie Chaplin-and the devastating World War II service (a living hell) of which he never spoke and which haunted him forever. J. D. Salingerfeatures all the dazzle of this authorrs"s early writing successes, his dramatic encounters with luminaries from Ernest Hemingway to Laurence Olivier to Elia Kazan, his surprising office intrigues with famousNew Yorkereditors and writers, and the stunning triumph ofThe Catcher in the Rye, which would both make him world-famous and hasten his retreat into the hills of New Hampshire. Whether itrs"s revealing the facts of his hasty, short-lived first marriage or his lifelong commitment to Eastern religion, which would dictate his attitudes toward sex, nutrition, solitude, and creativity,J. D. Salingeris this unique author's unforgettable story in full-one that no lover of literature can afford to miss.