Benfey, Christopher

More sympathetic than critical, this biography will urge those unfamiliar with Kipling's works (e.g., If, Kim, The Jungle Book) to read the classics that solidified his reputation here and abroad, earning him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901. Highly recommended for anyone interested in late 19th-century literature. [See Prepub Alert, 1/7/19.]

Since his mother traces her lineage back to Colonial craftsmen and his father fled Nazi Europe with his uncle and aunt, Bauhaus artists Josef and Anni Albers (Josef eventually headed up Carolina's visionary Black Mountain College), Benfey really can look at his family to tell the larger story of American art...