Books, Arts & Manners: Writing the Good Life

Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography, edited by William Zinsser (American Heritage, 252 pp., $16.95)

The biographer is an investigative reporter of the spirit. He must utilize original research that casts new light on the subject, have a thorough mastery of the material, experience the locales, portray the social and political background, synthesize the facts about the private and the public life, form a sympathetic identification with the subject, present a perceptive interpretation of character and motives, reveal a meaningful pattern, provide an evaluation of the achievement, and do justice to the end and extinction of life.

About the Author

Jeffrey Meyers

Mr. Meyers is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of John Huston: Courage and Art.

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Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography, edited by William Zinsser (American Heritage, 252 pp., $16.95)

The biographer is an investigative reporter of the spirit. He must utilize original research that casts new light on the subject, have a thorough mastery of the material, experience the locales, portray the social and political background, synthesize the facts about the private and the public life, form a sympathetic identification with the subject, present a perceptive interpretation of character and motives, reveal a meaningful pattern, provide an evaluation of the achievement, and do justice to the end and extinction of life.