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Arthur Miller: American Witness Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A distinguished theater critic brings twentieth-century playwright Arthur Miller’s dramatic story to life with bold and revealing new insights.
John Lahr brings unique perspective to the life of Arthur Miller (1915–2005), the playwright who almost single-handedly propelled twentieth-century American theater to a new level of cultural sophistication.
This book, organized around the fault lines of Miller’s life—his family, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, Elia Kazan and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Marilyn Monroe, Vietnam, and the rise and fall of Miller’s role as a public intellectual—demonstrates the synergy between Arthur Miller’s psychology and his plays.
Concentrating largely on Miller’s most prolific decades of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, Lahr probes Miller’s early playwriting failures; his work writing radio plays during World War II after being rejected for military service; his only novel, Focus; and his succession of award-winning and canonical plays that include All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible, providing an original interpretation of Miller’s work and his personality.
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“Shows the ways in which [Miller’s] truth-seeking spirit manifested itself in one of the most storied playwriting careers ever…[and] how Miller’s experiences informed plays such as The Golden Years, The Price, The Crucible, and the Pulitzer-winning Salesman.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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“This succinct and gorgeously written portrait offers a keen psychological appraisal of Miller’s works and of Miller himself.”
— Boston Globe -
“With rapt enthusiasm and fine attention to detail, narrator John Rubinstein…delivers this production as a critical appreciation and as a celebration of a singular and wholly American talent.”
— AudioFile -
“Lahr’s slender, sharp biography offers an engaging account of the playwright’s life…[and] provides a penetrating interpretation of Arthur Miller’s canonical works.”
— Christian Science Monitor -
“Lahr’s cogent analyses are revelatory but not surgical, and his sympathy never cloys…a critic who understands drama on the page and in the house.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“Lahr, a prominent theater critic, delivers a no-filler biography that still leaves room for his keen critical insights.”
— East Hampton Star (New York) -
“Lahr shines in this searching account…Lahr’s at his best using small moments to illuminate his subject…It’s a great introduction to a giant of American letters.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Utterly captivating.”
— Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize–winning essayist and author -
“Lahr lets us see the great American playwright with new eyes…No one writes more perceptively about the twentieth century theater than John Lahr.”
— John Guare, playwright, author of Six Degrees of Separation -
“Deeply readable and entertaining…Offers unique insight into how Miller’s mind works and how the details of his biography impacted his body of work.”
— Sarah Ruhl, playwright and MacArthur Fellow -
“Superbly written, impeccably researched…The close relationship between Miller and his plays is detailed and sympathetic. A classic book about a classic American playwright.”
— André Bishop, artistic director, Lincoln Center Theater
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About John Lahr
John Lahr, the author of numerous books, was the senior drama critic of the New Yorker for over two decades. He is the author of eighteen books, including Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. He has twice won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism and is the first critic ever to win a Tony Award for coauthoring the 2002 Elaine Stritch at Liberty.
About John Rubinstein
John Rubinstein is an actor, composer, and director who won a Tony Award for his starring role in Broadway’s Children of a Lesser God. He has narrated dozens of audiobooks, earning several AudioFile Earphones Awards and being named a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2013.