The talents Maxwell Perkins nurtured were known world-wide: F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe among numerous others. But the man himself remained a mystery, a backstage presence who serviced these authors not only as editor but also as critic, career manager, moneylender, psychoanalyst, confessor and friend.
This outstanding biography, a winner of the American National Book Award, is the first to explore the fascinating life of this editor extraordinaire in both the professional and personal domains. It tells not only of Perkins' stormy marriage, endearing eccentricities and secret twenty-five year romance with Elizabeth Lemmon, but also of his intensely intimate relationships with the leading literary lights of the twentieth century.
