Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir

First published in 1987, Inventing the Truth quickly grew into the best-selling compendium of the Writer's Craft series and continues to be a lasting hit. In this revised and expanded edition with a new introduction by its editor, William Zinsser, the voices of original contributors - Russell Baker, Annie Dillard, Alfred Kazin, and Toni Morrison - join with new pieces by Jill Ker Conway, Eileen Simpson, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., among others. The result is a provocative dialogue that vividly examines the expanding and innovative approaches to a literary form practiced by some of our most prestigious authors. With refreshing candor, contributors both old and new address the pleasures and challenges of accurately rendering their personal histories. Toni Morrison underscores the manner in which her heritage informs her work, while Jill Ker Conway describes the essential act of leaving the past behind. On a comic note, Russell Baker recalls his failure to include his mother and himself i