Open Road: 9207 books

Three candid, affecting memoirs by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Group, including a National Book Award finalist. In Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, Mary McCarthy begins with her recollections of a happy childhood cut tragically short by the death of her parents during...

A memoir of a childhood homesteading in frontier Colorado: “A book from the heart . . . the stuff of the American dream” (The New York Times). In this memoir of a lost America, Hal Borland tells the story of his family’s migration to eastern Colorado as homesteaders at the turn of the...

The reflective essays of one of America’s most accomplished authors. Andre Dubus is celebrated for depicting the subtlest of human emotions and finding compassion for the most damaged, and damaging, of characters. In the essays collected here, the author turns the microscope on himself, and...

Published posthumously, this wise and entertaining family history and memoir offers keen insight into the origins of Rebecca West and her work   Working on Family Memories for over twenty years, West set out to narrate the story of her mother’s, father’s and husband’s unique and talented...

This is a study of Kafka’s tragic vision of life, his profoundly disturbing awareness of man’s utter loneliness in a pitiless universe, and his artistry in effecting a strange intimate fusion between symbolism and realism—between anguished poetic narration and the terrifying reality of an absurd...

The story of a notorious New York eccentric and the journalist who chronicled his life: “A little masterpiece of observation and storytelling” (Ian McEwan). Joseph Mitchell was a cornerstone of the New Yorker staff for decades, but his prolific career was shattered by an extraordinary case...

Fearless, iconic poet, novelist, and feminist Erica Jong offers a fascinating in-depth appreciation of the controversial life and work of American literary giant Henry Miller Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer) and Erica Jong (Fear of Flying) are true literary soul mates. Both authors have been,...

The rhythms of jazz and beat poetry punctuate this sweeping, firsthand account of New York City’s 1950s literary scene from the Bowery to Spanish Harlem National bestselling author Dan Wakefield first came to New York City in 1952 with the intention of receiving a proper literary education...

An intimate, joy-filled portrait and New York Times bestseller, written by one of Hemingway’s closest friends: “It is hard to imagine a better biography” (Life). In 1948, A. E. Hotchner went to Cuba to ask Ernest Hemingway to write an article on “The Future of Literature” for Cosmopolitan...

A revealing and insightful look at one of the modern world’s most acclaimed historical novelists Patrick O’Brian was well into his seventies when the world fell in love with his greatest creation: the maritime adventures of Royal Navy Captain Jack Aubrey and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin....

The captivating biography of the trailblazing New Yorker journalist and feminist who traveled the world reporting on the tumultuous cultural and political currents of the twentieth century Emily Hahn first challenged traditional gender roles in 1922 when she enrolled in the University of Wisconsin’s...

A poignant memoir of a full life and an impending death, written by one of America’s foremost journalists during his battle with terminal cancer.   For three decades, from the end of World War II well into the Watergate era, internationally renowned newspaper and magazine columnist Stewart Alsop...

From the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Strange Wine: A gritty memoir of life in NYC that became the basis for a Hitchcock TV drama. Hemingway said, “A man should never write what he doesn’t know.” In the mid‑fifties, Harlan Ellison—kicked out of college and hungry to write—went...

**A vibrant and insightful essay collection about life as a poet in Southern California ** Poetry and Hollywood may not seem compatible in anyone’s book. But acclaimed poet, novelist, and critic Carol Muske-Dukes finds common ground for both in meditations on movie sets and metaphors, on...