Press & Reviews
MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2023
BEST ARTS AND HUMANITIES OF 2023
BEST BIOGRAPHIES OF 2023
"A must-read"
HOLIDAY GIFT BOOK SELECTION
BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2023
BEST BOOKS OF 2023
"Hartigan ably argues that [Wilson's] dramas, many of which pay close attention to ancestral lineages and ideas about inheritance, continue to reveal “fissures in the national culture.”
"[An] excellent and deeply informed new biography"
"[Hartigan] has crafted a spectacular biography ... As William Styron once wrote, “A great book should leave you with many experiences and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.” Patti Hartigan has written just such a book about an illustrious playwright."
"What’s most compelling, though, is how Hartigan sheds light on Wilson’s ability to write from his soul."
"Riveting ... Hartigan, with this first comprehensive biography, has honored Wilson in the way he deserves."
"Most Anticipated Books of 2023"
"A much-needed record of Wilson’s life and work that will help secure his legacy and introduce him to future generations."
"[An] absorbing, richly detailed biography ... The backstage drama on Wilson's biggest success comes to vivid life in Hartigan's book, along with Wilson's remarkable family history."
"Patti Hartigan's "August Wilson: A Life" traces the larger context of his achievement as thoroughly as it does his distinctive vision ... [Her] descriptions of his idiosyncratic, youthful self-creation are a delight.
[Hartigan's] book is an achievement: It's solid and well-reported ... Hartigan is adept at keeping the lines straight."
"An invaluable and highly absorbing new biography ... Wilson's artistic story, throbbing with the ancestral memory Wilson felt in his blood, is profoundly inspiring in Hartigan's magnificent rendering."
"Masterful. . . . With painstaking research, stylistic verve, and an eye both admiring and exacting, Ms. Hartigan has pieced together the man behind the 20th Century Cycle, bringing Wilson to furious, complicated life. . . . An epic account."
"The Playwright Who Changed the Face of American Theater," excerpt from Chapter Eight.
"Writers to Watch: 10 Noteworthy Nonfiction Debuts, Fall 2023"
"There probably won’t be a better-written biography of the great playwright August Wilson than theater critic Hartigan’s remarkable book."
"This will serve as the definitive account of an essential American playwright."
"Hartigan makes an impressive book debut with an appreciative, well-researched biography of August Wilson
. . . An authoritative portrait of a defiant champion of Black theater."
. . . An authoritative portrait of a defiant champion of Black theater."
"While Wilson enjoyed mythologizing his own life, this glowing biography sifts fact from fiction. Wilson was always a poet; his last words to his daughter were, “It is beautiful. It is beautiful.” As is this invaluable biography."
"In an exquisitely researched biography fully equal to its legendary subject, Patti Hartigan details in these rich, revealing pages not only the epic life of a complex, often misunderstood genius, but also the fascinating artistic, political and racial milieu in which he moved, showing us that as long as there is a truly American theater, there will be the plays and unparalleled presence of August Wilson."
"August Wilson was one of the greatest playwrights in the history of the American stage. Despite his major critical acclaim, a sophisticated biography is long overdue. Patti Hartigan has filled this void with a deeply researched, impressively insightful biography that reveals in riveting detail why Wilson will be recalled as one of the greatest dramatists of the twentieth century."
"Patti Hartigan has beautifully captured August Wilson’s ‘wild heart’ in this important work. It dives into the world of this seminal dramatist by showing us his process - and colossal talent - for illuminating the Black experience in America. Wilson admirers will rejoice."
"Inarguably August Wilson is the most important voice in the American theater in the past century, and Patti Hartigan has captured the man, the theater, and the country. Her biography of August Wilson flows from its pages like the very stories that flow from August’s masterful and beautiful ten-play cycle."
Designed by Active Media Group.
© Patti Hartigan