{"product_id":"my-generation-william-styron-9780812997057","title":"My Generation: Collected Nonfiction","description":"\u003cb\u003eA vital, illuminating collection of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner's elegant, passionately engaged nonfiction\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eMy Generation\u003c\/i\u003e is the definitive gathering of William Styron's nonfiction, exposing the core of this greatly gifted, highly convivial, and profoundly serious artist from his literary emergence in the 1950s to his death in 2006. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Here are fifty years of Styron's essays, memoirs, reviews, op-eds, articles, eulogies, and speeches, reflecting the same brilliant style and informed thinking that he brought to his towering fiction and to a deeply committed public life. Including many newly collected and never-before-published items, this compendium ranges from the original mission statement of \u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review, \u003c\/i\u003e which Styron helped found in 1953, to a 2001 tribute to his friend Philip Roth--creating an essential overview of arts and letters during the post-World War II years. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In these pages, Styron writes vividly of childhood days in Tidewater Virginia spent going to movies, not reading books. (\"It does not mean the death of literacy or creativity if one is drenched in popular culture at an early age.\") He recalls being among the group of soldiers who would have been sent to invade Japan and were saved by Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb, which Styron feels was the right choice, \"even though its absolute rightness can never be proved.\" And he writes as few others have about midlife battles with clinical depression, \"a pain that is all but indescribable, and therefore to everyone but the sufferer almost meaningless.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Here, too, are Styron's personal encounters with world leaders, fellow authors, and friends, each of whom comes memorably to life. Styron recalls sharing contraband Cuban cigars with JFK (\"a naughty memento, a conversation piece with a touch of scandal\"), getting lost in the snow with Robert Penn Warren, and party-hopping with the young James Jones (an experience he likens to \"keeping company with a Roman emperor\"). The beginnings of his masterpieces \u003ci\u003eThe Confessions of Nat Turner\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSophie's Choice \u003c\/i\u003eare chronicled here, along with the controversy that greeted the former upon its 1967 publication. Throughout, Styron celebrates the men and women of his generation, whose lives were forged in the crucible of World War II. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Whether he's recounting a walk with his dog, musing on the Modern Library's list of the hundred best English-language novels of the twentieth century, or contemplating America's fraught racial legacy from his point of view as the grandson of a woman who owned slaves, William Styron writes always in urgent, finely calibrated prose. These fascinating pieces bring readers closer to this great writer and the world he observed, interacted with, and changed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eMy Generation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"William Styron's \u003ci\u003eMy Generation: Collected Nonfiction\u003c\/i\u003e is both unsurpassably charming and unflinchingly honest, whether recounting the fallout from \u003ci\u003eThe Confessions of Nat Turner\u003c\/i\u003e or reminiscing about the slave-owning grandmother who warned him never to forget he was a Southerner.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"At its most accomplished, Styron's non-fiction mixes a conscientious, richly traditional prose style with a strong current of fellow feeling, a certain awe at the human condition, which is what gives power to his best fiction. . . . Styron stood tall in his generation, and the best of him will stand up over time.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"A must for every Styron fan's library.\"\u003cb\u003e--BBC\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e William Styron\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0812997050\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780812997057\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/02\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 656\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.10lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.40h x 6.40w x 1.50d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2014 pg. 62\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/15\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/06\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2015 pg. 88\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2015 pg. 13\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/05\/2015 pg. 12\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2014","brand":"William Styron","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46401256390911,"sku":"9780812997057","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_60b9e87c-fd31-4e22-a9d0-9214c00e2955.jpg?v=1733887183","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/my-generation-william-styron-9780812997057","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}