Written when she was just 28, Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark "A Raisin in the Sun" is listed by the National Theatre as one of the hundred most significant works of the 20th century. Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway, and the first Black and youngest American playwright to win a New York Critics’ Circle Award. Charles J. Shields’ authoritative biography of one of the 20th century’s most admired playwrights examines the parts of Hansberry’s life that have escaped public knowledge: the influence of her upper-class background, her fight for peace and nuclear disarmament, the reason why she embraced Communism during the Cold War, and her dependence on her white husband --- her best friend, critic and promoter.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD --- the 20th century's most widely read American novel --- has sold over 40 million copies and still sells a million yearly. In this in-depth biography, first published in 2006, Charles J. Shields brings to life the woman who gave us two of American literature's most unforgettable characters: Atticus Finch and his daughter, Scout. Now, years after its initial publication --- with updates throughout the book and a new Afterword --- Shields finishes the story of Harper Lee's life, up to its end.

AND SO IT GOES is the culmination of five years of research and writing --- the first-ever biography of the life of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a writer who changed the conversation of American literature.

At the center of Shields's lively book is the story of Lee's struggle to create her famous novel. But her life contains many other highlights as well: her girlhood as a tomboy in overalls in tiny Monroeville, Alabama; the murder trial that inspired her great work; her journey to Kansas as Capote's ally and research assistant to help report the story of the Clutter murders; the surrogate family she found in New York City.