Ross and Tom: Two American Tragedies

by John Leggett

Book Overview

Here, at last back in print, is the classic dual biography of Ross Lockridge and Thomas Heggen, two authors who achieved sudden fame and fortune and then self-destructed. Ross Lockridge, the author of the spectacularly best-selling Raintree County, and Thomas Heggen, the creator of Mister Roberts, both were thrust in the 1940s into unexpected fame and money. Each was young and inexperienced in the ways of the world. John Leggett explores...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306809923
• ISBN13: 9780306809927
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 472 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Two Literary Tragedies

Before "narrative nonfiction" became a buzzword in publishing, John Leggett wrote this superb dual biography of Ross Lockridge and Tom Heggen, both of whom experienced fantastic early success which they couldn't follow, leading to depression and suicide. Although Lockridge's son Larry has recently published his biography of his father with an understandable mission to correct what he sees as failings in Leggett's book, I think Lockridge gives us far too much detail and insufficient drama.Leggett's book is tremendously readable, like a great novel, yet grounded in fact all the way. I only have one caveat, which is Leggett's attempt to interpret both writers' lives and deaths within some Freudian framework, but this is only done briefly and doesn't damage the book greatly. I've read Ross and Tom several times in the twenty odd years since I first bought a used hardcover edition, and it is a great book.

A biography that has stayed with me for 20 years

I have treasured the hardcover of this book since it came out. If you are interested in the lives of writers, or the price of early success, or just in a brilliant biography, you should read this book.