Dashiell Hammett: Man of Mystery - Softcover

Cline, Sally

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1628726105 ISBN 13: 9781628726107

Publisher: Arcade, 2016

Synopsis

"Delivers the goods on Hammett, in brief. . . . An entertaining and informative read.” Library Journal

Dashiell Hammett: Man of Mystery is the first new biography in thirty years on the man who changed the face of crime fiction. In five novels published over five years as well as a string of stories, he transformed the mystery genre into literature and invented the modern crime novel. He created the figure of the hard-boiled detective, from the Continental Op to Sam Spade immortalized on film by Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon and the more glamorous Thin Man, also made iconic with the aid of Hollywood.

A brilliant writer, Hammett was a complex and enigmatic man. He identified with his tough protagonists, but tuberculosis compromised his masculine identity and alcoholism may have been his answer. A former Pinkerton detective who valued honesty, he was attracted to women who lied outrageously, most notably Lillian Hellman, with whom he conducted a thirty-year affair. A controversial political activist who stood up for civil liberty, he was also a very private man. In this compact biography, Sally Cline uses fresh research, including interviews with Hammett’s family and Hellman’s heir, to reexamine the life and works of the writer whom Raymond Chandler called the ace performer.”

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

About this title

About the Author:

Sally Cline is an award-winning writer and scholar and the author of twelve books, including the biography Zelda Fitzgerald: The Tragic, Meticulously Researched Biography of the Jazz Age’s High Priestess. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and lives in Cambridge, England.

Review:

VERDICT: Man of Mystery delivers the goods on Hammett, in brief. . . . Keeping her subject squarely in focus, [Cline] offers a fairly succinct overview of his personality and career. Her analyses of his novels including The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, are lean. . . . What is found in abundance are salacious details, presented in standard linear narrative, as Hammett lifetime consumptive, philander, and inebriate extra­ordinaire treats people badly against an endless backdrop of crummy apartments, hotel penthouses, jail cells, army barracks, and Hollywood locales. . . . An entertaining and informative read.” Library Journal

Extremely well-written, it provides the best account thus far of Hammett’s view of life.” National Review

Sally Cline has captured the essence of Dashiell Hammett in a fast-paced and entertaining exploration of his life and his work. In pages filled with absorbing detail, Cline provides a scholarly reinterpretation with which future writers will have to grapple. This is an important achievement!"
Alice Kessler-Harris, R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of History, Columbia University, and author of A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman

Sympathetically written and scrupulously researched, Sally Cline’s Dashiell Hammett corrects the record and offers new insights into this complex and enigmatic man, giving us a vivid portrait not only of Hammett but also of his world and circle." Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, author of Mencken: the American Iconoclast

Sally Cline's Dashiell Hammett is incisive and authoritative, and especially good at seeing Hammett in the context of his times.” Diane Johnson, author of Flyover Lives: A Memoir, Le Mariage, and Dashiell Hammett: A Life

"In Dashiell Hammett: Man of Mystery, Cline brilliantly captures the life and times of this often private, enigmatic, and talented man. . . . Five out of five stars for her first-rate, well-researched, and compelling biography on Dashiell Hammett. It is a gem of a book, very entertaining, and it belongs in the library of all lovers of American literature.” Baltimore Post-Examiner

About this edition

• Publisher: Arcade
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1628726105
• ISBN 13: 9781628726107
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272