Berg’s National Book Award-winner (1980) flips the page on literary bios for an editor’s point of view. Perkins famously published Fitzgerald, Hemingway & Wolfe—writers more conservative editors wouldn’t touch. A fastidious Yankee stoic, his idea of flashy was keeping his hat on indoors. I didn’t find his quirks endearing. (He criticized woman for everything from acting on stage to using Worcestershire sauce.) His flock of needy, brilliant, ruthless authors are the real stars. Perkins shepherded them through the torturous writing process & the insecurities that plague even the titans of literature. Dying is easy, writing is hard.