Customer Reviews

American Literature (Great Lives (Scribner))

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Although I am a professional writer with 12 books on the stock market to my credit, I have never written a book review. But Great Lives in American Literature certainly deserves one. To begin with, I have read dozens of books such as Living Biographies of Famous Novelists by Henry Thomas and Dana Lee Thomas, The Legal 100 by Darien A. McWhirter and Investment Gurus by Peter J. Tanous.

When I came across Great Lives in American Literature at a used-book sale, I grabbed it immediately. I almost put it back when I noted on the book jacket that it was suitable for youngsters age 9 to 12. Frankly, I don't think it is a good book for children that young. I am a sophisticated reader, and I did not get the sense that it was written for unsophisticated readers. Frankly, I thought it was exactly my kind of book, with well written chapters on such great writers as Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Eugene O'Neill, and Theodore Dreiser. These are not writers that would ring a bell with grade school kids.

If you are a reader of short biographies (from 5 to 10 pages long), you will love this book. In fact, I was so impressed with Great Lives that I immediately went to Amazon.com to see if there were other book by Doris Faber and Harold Faber. There were several, and I immediately ordered one called Great Lives of American Government. I can't wait till I receive it. Incidentally, if you are as addicted to collections of short biographies as I am, why not send me an e-mail, and I will e-mail you a long list of them. Of course, I may also mention my own book, the 2005 edition of The 100 Best Stocks You Can Buy. [...]