Great Authors of Nonfiction

Rooted in fact, nonfiction works examine "the real world" from a literary standpoint. The authors of these stories often filter their material through the lens of personal history or knowledge of a particular field of study. More than simply hewing to static facts, they incorporate the back story and motivations of their protagonists, as well as the history of their subjects, and present it all in language that is as rich and fluid as that of any work of fiction. The lives of some of the top nonfiction authors--such as Rachel Carson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Norman Mailer, Oliver Sacks, Studs Terkel, and Elie Wiesel--are surveyed in this absorbing volume.