Book, Hardcover Kenneth Slawenski, Peter Ackroyd Published in: 2010 Publisher: Random House Language: English One of the most popular and mysterious figures in American literary history, author of the classic Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger eluded fans and journalists for most of his life. Now comes a new biography that Peter Ackroyd in The Times of London callsenergetic and magnificently researcheda book from whicha true picture of Salinger emerges.Filled with new information and revelationsgarnered from countless interviews, letters, and public recordsJ. D. Salinger presents an extraordinary life that spanned nearly the entire twentieth century. Kenneth Slawenski explores Salingers privileged youth, long obscured by misrepresentation and rumor, revealing the brilliant, sarcastic, vulnerable son of a disapproving father and doting mother and his entrance into a social world where Gloria Vanderbilt dismissively referred to him asa Jewish boy from New York.Here too are