Inventing the Truth

In this companion for anyone beguiled by memoirs or embarking on writing one, nine authors, including Ian Frazier and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., reflect on the writing process.



For anyone who enjoys reading memoirs—or is thinking about writing one—this collection offers a master class from nine distinguished authors, including Annie Dillard, Frank McCourt, and others.

The events, memories, and emotions of the past often resist the orderly structure of a book. Inventing the Truth offers wisdom from nine notable memoirists about their process (Ian Frazier searched through generations of family papers to understand his parents' lives), the hurdles they faced (Annie Dillard tackles the central dilemma of memoir: what to put in and what to leave out), and the unexpected joys of bringing their pasts to the page.

Featured authors include Russell Baker on Growing Up; Jill Ker Conway on The Road from Coorain; Annie Dillard on An American Childhood; Ian Frazier on Family; Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Colored People; Alfred Kazin on A Walker in the City; Frank McCourt on Angela's Ashes; Toni Morrison on Beloved; and Eileen Simpson on Poets in Their Youth.