Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard

Synopsis

Drawing on unprecedented archival and family access, Cooler Than Cool: The Life of Elmore Leonard, is the first comprehensive biography of the master American crime writer, author of witty, gritty bestsellers like Get Shorty and Raylan.Over the course of his sixty-year career, Elmore Leonard, “the Dickens of Detroit,” published forty-five novels that have had enduring appeal to readers around the world. Revered by Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Raymond Carver, and Stephen King, his books were innovative in their blending of a Hemingway-inspired noirish minimalism and a masterful use of realistic dialogue over exposition—a direct evolution spurred by his years as a screenwriter.Leonard’s fiction contained many layers, and at the heart of his work were progressive themes, stemming from his years as a student of the Jesuit religious order, his personal beliefs in social justice, and his successful battle over alcoholism. He drew inspiration from greats like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, but the true motivation and brilliance behind his crime writing was the ongoing class struggle to achieve the American Dream—often seen through the eyes of law enforcement officers and the criminals they vowed to apprehend.C. M. Kushins tells Leonard’s full life story against recurring themes and evolving storytelling methods of his work, drawing on interviews with primary sources ranging from Leonard’s family and friends to those who acted in, produced, and directed his work onscreen. He also includes never-before-published excerpts from Leonard’s unfinished final novel and planned memoir. Definitive and revealing, Cooler Than Cool shows Leonard emerging as one of the last writers of the “pulp fiction” era of midcentury America, to ultimately become one of the most successful storytellers of the twentieth century, whose influence continues to have far-reaching effects on both contemporary crime fiction and American filmmaking.

Copyright:

1970

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9780063306882

Related ISBNs:

9780063306868

Publisher:

HarperCollins

Date of Addition:

06/10/25

Copyrighted By:

rival for fifty thousand dollars. In January

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Entertainment, Nonfiction, Westerns, Art and Architecture, Biographies and Memoirs, Literature and Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers, Language Arts

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.