Algren ─ A Life

The first examination of Nelson Algren in over 25 years, Algren is the definitive biography of one of the best-known writers of mid-20th-century America. Journalist Mary Wisniewski interviewed dozens of Algren's inner circle, including photographer Art Shay and the late Studs Terkel, and examined Algren's unpublished writing and correspondence, including hundreds of letters he received from lover Simone de Beauvoir, to craft an account as entertaining as it is meticulously researched. Algren reveals details about the writer's life, work, personality, and habits, digging beneath the street-crawling man's man stereotype to show a funny, sensitive, and romantic but self-destructive artist. This fresh look at the man whose tough but humorous style and compassionate message enchanted fellow writers is indispensable to anyone interested in 20th-century American literature.

Chicago native Mary Wisniewski is a reporter at the Chicago Tribune and former Reuters investigative reporter covering Midwest crime and politics. Wisniewski has lived and worked in a world Nelson Algren would still recognize. She has attended the Saturday line-ups of petty thieves, junkies, and rapists at the Cook County criminal courthouse, reported at murder scenes, and covered the corruption trials of judges and governors. Previously a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and a reporter for Chicago Lawyer, Wisniewski has won numerous awards for reporting and has also taught creative writing, published literary reviews, and edited fiction and non-fiction books. She is an active participant in the Nelson Algren Committee, past president of the Chicago Headline Club, and appears frequently to talk about crime and politics on local television and radio. She lives in Chicago.