Max Perkins: Editor of Genius

The man who invented the modern profession of book editing finally got his due, 31 years after his death, when this revelatory biography appeared. A. Scott Berg's detailed explication of Maxwell Perkins's work on the manuscripts of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and a host of other important American writers shows how much the Scribner's editor contributed to their books, all the while maintaining that he only helped his authors find the best in themselves. This 1978 National Book Award winner is a thorough, carefully considered account of a seminal period in American publishing.