Archibald MacLeish: An American Life [Paperback]

Scott Donaldson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2001

Theres so much gold about life and letters on nearly every page of Scott Donaldsons major biography of Archibald MacLeish that the book almost doesnt need mining for nuggets. Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times MacLeish was in many ways a child of fortune his luck still holds in having so fine a chronicler of his enchanted voyage. The New England Quarterly This book was the winner of the 1993 Ambassador Book Award for biography.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Appointed MacLeish's biographer by the MacLeish estate, Donaldson ( John Cheever ) in collaboration with Winnick ( Letters of Archibald MacLeish, 1907 - 1982 ) has produced a sympathetic and fully realized treatment of the writer's life and work. MacLeish (1892-1982) was born into wealth but rejected a law career for poetry, supporting his family by working as a journalist for Fortune magazine. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice for his poems (1932, 1953) and once for his play J.B. (1959). Donaldson details his subject's friendships with Hemingway, Dean Acheson and Dos Passos, acknowledging MacLeish's literary achievements and his outstanding stint as FDR's Librarian of Congress. The book credits him with acting against fascism and McCarthyism but also reveals his snobbishness, extra-marital affairs and failures as a father. Readable and well-researched, this is a solid scholarly biography of a major literary figure. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This exhaustive, sympathetic biography helps explain why MacLeish, one of the best-known and respected American poets in the 1930s to the 1950s, is all but forgotten today. Raised to value a life of selfless public service, he early subordinated a pursuit of private poetry to a career in the law, then at the fledgling Fortune magazine. In the Depression, at the request of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he revered, he became Librarian of Congress and, in the 1950s, Boylston Professor of English at Harvard--all the while carped at by critics both Left and Right, who accused him of "selling out." This fine book should help resurrect MacLeish, not as a poet (liberal samplings of his work suggest he remains too public and hortatory for our tastes), but as a principled and courageous American public servant. For an interview with Donaldson, see Behind The Book, p. 92.--Ed.
- Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, Mo.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595170781
• ISBN-13: 978-0595170784
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,231,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and readable, May 29, 2004

By 

Shawn Holliday - See all my reviews

This review is from: Archibald MacLeish: An American Life (Hardcover)

Even though Donaldson is at times both apologetic for and uncritical of MacLeish (especially of his extramarital affairs, poetic unoriginality, and political toadyism), this biography is a thorough and readable account of Macleish's life and career as poet and statesman. Informative and enjoyable.