David Mamet

This comprehensive biography uses extensive theater and film archives to reveal Mamet's ideas on writing, acting, and directing, covering his beginnings in Chicago, his relationship to Judaism and reputation for machismo, as well as discussions of and excerpts from early plays and stories that have never before been referenced in print.

'Nadel aims high. . . synching up the full range of Mamet's work with his closely guarded personal affairs. It helps that the raw material on both counts is memorably vivid.' - The New York Times Book Review

'This is compelling stuff - front row seats to the life of one of America's most influential playwrights. Mamet moves me and makes me jealous like few other writers can; this little jewel of a biography helps me appreciate the man as much as the work. An essential read.' - Neil LaBute, Writer/Director

'Drawing upon David Mamet's essays, interviews, and literary works, as well as the recollections of actors and directors with whom this seminal has worked, Ira Nadel has written a thoughtful, compelling, and often gritty account of the life and career of one of the 20th century's most gifted writers. Nadel's biography skillfully juxtaposes Mamet's life in Chicago and Vermont with the machismo, marginality, and Jewish identity that inform Mamet's life and work.' - Leslie Kane, Emeritus Professor of English, Westfield State College, USA,and author Weasels and Wiseman: Ethics and Ethnicity in the Work of David Mamet

'A fascinating biography of one of America's greatest living playwrights. A must read for anyone interested in the theatre.' - Amanda Foreman, author of the Whitbread-award winning Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

Praise for Ira Nadel:

'Readers may find themselves swept away.' - American Theatre

'Nadel. . . has written what will surely be the standard account for some years to come.' - Weekly Standard

'The best and most complete Stoppard biography available, this is a no-brainer acquisition.' - Library Journal

'Ira Nadel lifts the lid on this most brilliant of living playwrights. . .Mr. Nadel clearly knows his subject.' - New York Sun

'His work is always scrupulous and exhaustive, coming alive.' - Book Magazine

Ira Nadel is Professor in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is the author of Leonard Cohen: A Life in Art (1994), Double Act: A Life of Tom Stoppard (2000), Ezra Pound: A Literary Life (2004), Joyce and His Publishers (2005), The Cambridge Introduction to Ezra Pound (2007), and David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre (2008). Nadel is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a UBC Distinguished University Scholar, and the winner of the 1996 Medal for Canadian Biography. He has also been awarded a Killam Research Prize, Mellon and Dorot Fellowships at the Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, and a Beinecke Fellowship at Yale University, USA.