Robert Abzug, an adviser to this book, is the Audre and Bernard Rapoport Regents Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Texas, Austin, and the author of Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps and America Views the Holocaust 1933–1945.
Mike Ackerman was a neighbor of J. D. Salinger.
Tony Adams was the executive director of the Atlanta-area YMCA at which Mark David Chapman worked as a counselor in the 1970s.
Renata Adler is the author of the novels Speedboat and Pitch Dark and the memoir Gone.
Paul Alexander, an adviser to this book, is the author of biographies of J. D. Salinger, Sylvia Plath, James Dean, and Andy Warhol.
Eberhard Alsen, who undertook extensive research throughout Europe and America as a consultant to this book, is a professor of English at State University of New York, Cortland, and the author of A Reader’s Guide to J. D. Salinger and Salinger’s Glass Stories as Composite Novel.
Stephen E. Ambrose, the author of several best-selling books about World War II, died in 2002.
Benjamin Anastas is the author of the memoir Too Good to Be True and the novels An Underachiever’s Diary and The Faithful Narrative of a Pastor’s Disappearance.
Roger Angell, a longtime New Yorker staff writer and editor, has published many collections of essays on baseball, including Late Innings and Five Seasons.
Blake Bailey, the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for his biography of John Cheever, has also written biographies of the writers Richard Yates and Charles Jackson.
Carlos Baker, the author of biographies of Ernest Hemingway and Percy Bysshe Shelley, died in 1987.
Milton G. Baker founded the Valley Forge Military Academy in 1928 and was its superintendent until 1971. He died in 1976.
Hanson W. Baldwin was the longtime military affairs editor of the New York Times and wrote more than a dozen books on military and naval history and policy. He died in 1991.
Joseph Balkoski is the command historian of the Maryland National Guard and the author of several books on D-Day, including Omaha Beach.
Donald Barr taught at Columbia University and was headmaster of the Dalton School in New York City. He was literary editor of Tomorrow and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review, Saturday Review, and Commonweal. He died in 2004.
James Barron has been a reporter for the New York Times for many years.
John B. Beach was a lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Division during World War II and leader of the 1st Platoon.
Jim Bellows was the editor of the New York Herald Tribune from 1961 to 1967, then became managing editor of Entertainment Tonight and executive editor of ABC News: World News Tonight. Author of The Last Editor, he died in 2009.
Edward Jackson Bennett was a newspaper publisher and editor.
A. Scott Berg is the author of biographies of Maxwell Perkins (for which he won a National Book Award), Charles Lindbergh (for which he won a Pulitzer Prize), Sam Goldwyn, and, most recently, Woodrow Wilson.
Tony Bill is the Academy Award–winning producer of The Sting, Taxi Driver, and other films.
Sven Birkerts, a literary critic and essayist, is the author of several books of literary criticism, including The Gutenberg Elegies.
H. W. Blakeley, a division commander in World War II and commander of the 4th Infantry Division from 1944 to 1946, was made a major general in 1945. He died in 1966.
Shirlie Blaney was a reporter for the Windsor High School newspaper; her interview with J. D. Salinger appeared in the Daily Eagle of Claremont, New Hampshire, in 1953.
Eleanor Blau covered arts, culture, and film for the New York Times for many years.
Joseph L. Blotner is the coauthor of The Fiction of J. D. Salinger.
Ashley Blum recently graduated from Dartmouth College.
Louise Bogan was a poet and, for many years, an editor and poetry critic at the New Yorker; she received several submissions of poems from J. D. Salinger during World War II. Bogan died in 1970.
Susan J. Boutwell was a reporter for the West Lebanon, New Hampshire, Valley News; she is now senior public affairs officer for strategic communication at Dartmouth College.
Robert Boynton, director of New York University’s literary reportage concentration, is the author of The New Journalism.
Thomas F. Brady was a journalist.
Stephen Braun who won a Pulitzer Prize as a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, is now a reporter and editor for Associated Press.
Richard Brooks writes for the Guardian.
Andreas Brown was the owner of the Gotham Book Mart.
Himan Brown was a radio and television producer who created CBS Radio Mystery Theater. He rented to Salinger the Westport, Connecticut, house in which The Catcher in the Rye was written. Brown died in 2010.
Frank P. Burk commanded the Infantry from Utah Beach to the end of World War II. He died in 1978.
Nash K. Burger was on the editorial staff of the New York Times Book Review for thirty years and wrote The Road to West 43rd Street. He died in 1996.
Whit Burnett, who taught J. D. Salinger in a Columbia University Extension Division short-story writing course, cofounded Story magazine in 1931 and coedited the magazine until its demise in 1967 (the magazine was later resurrected). He died in 1973.
Robert Callagy was an attorney with and chairman of the New York law firm Satterlee, Stephens, Burke & Burke. He served as lead counsel on several landmark First Amendment and copyright law cases, including Ian Hamilton’s defense against a J. D. Salinger lawsuit. He died in 2006.
Glenn Gordon Caron was the creator of the television shows Moonlighting and Medium; he has worked as a producer and director of a number of other shows, including Remington Steele.
Doreen Carvajal, a journalist for the New York Times and other publications, is the author of The Forgetting River.
Subhash Chandra is a literary critic and the author of The Fiction of J. D. Salinger: A Study in the Concept of Man.
Charlie Chaplin, who died in 1977, was a world-famous actor, director, and screenwriter.
Jane Chaplin, the daughter of Oona O’Neill and Charlie Chaplin, was born in 1957.
Patrice Chaplin is the former daughter-in-law of Charlie and Oona Chaplin and the author of Hidden Star, a biography of Oona Chaplin.
Mark David Chapman is serving a life sentence for the murder of John Lennon.
Thomas Childers is the author of many books on World War II, including In the Shadows of War.
Marcia Clark served as lead prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson murder trial and the trial of Robert Bardo, the killer of Rebecca Schaeffer.
Michael Clarkson is an author specializing in the topics of fear and stress.
Annabelle Cone teaches French at Dartmouth College.
Paul Corkery wrote for People magazine.
Donald Costello, professor emeritus of English at Notre Dame, is the author of the influential essay “The Language of ‘The Catcher in the Rye.’ ”
Catherine Crawford is a literary agent and the editor of If You Really Want to Hear About It: Writers on J. D. Salinger and His Work.
Lindsay Crouse is an actress who has starred in House of Games, Places in the Heart, and numerous other films and plays.
John Curran was an Associated Press reporter. He died in 2011.
John Dean was White House counsel from July 1970 to April 1973 and the key witness in the Watergate hearings. Since then, he has worked as an investment banker and written Conservatives Without Conscience, Blind Ambition, and other books.
Richard Deitzler was a classmate of J. D. Salinger at Ursinus College, in Collegeville, Pennsylavania.
Don DeLillo is the author of more than a dozen novels, including Underworld, White Noise, and Mao II.
Peter De Vries worked as a staff writer for the New Yorker from 1944 to 1967 and wrote numerous comic novels, including But Who Wakes the Bugler?, The Blood of the Lamb, and Madder Music. He died in 1993.
Joan Didion is a novelist, nonfiction writer, literary critic, and frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. Her works include Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It As It Lays, The White Album, and The Year of Magical Thinking, which won the National Book Award in 2005.
E. L. Doctorow is the author of many novels, including Billy Bathgate, Ragtime, and The Book of Daniel. The recipient of a National Book Award, two PEN/Faulkner Awards, and three National Book Critics Circle Awards, he teaches at New York University.
Claire Douglas, a clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst, has been a training and supervisory analyst with the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles since 1992. The author of Translate This Darkness: The Life of Christiana Morgan, she lectures and writes books and articles on Jung and on women’s psychology. She was J. D. Salinger’s second wife, from 1953 to 1967, and is the mother of his two children.
Maureen Dowd is a Pulitzer Prize–winning editorial page columnist for the New York Times.
John Dryfhout is the author of The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
Helen Dudar was a cultural critic and journalist for many newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune. She died in 2002.
Dave Eggers is the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius; he is the founder and editor of the independent publishing house McSweeney’s.
Mel Elfin was Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief from 1965 to 1985 and an editor at U.S. News & World Report from 1985 to 1998.
Michael Ellison is an actor who has appeared on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Crutch.
Betty Eppes, was a reporter for the Morning Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 1976 to 1990. In 1980 she interviewed J. D. Salinger.
Leslie Epstein is a professor at Boston University and the author of such novels as King of the Jews, Pandaemonium, and San Remo Drive.
Clifton Fadiman was the editor of the New Yorker’s book reviews from 1933 to 1943, when he became an editor for the Book-of-the-Month Club. He died in 1999.
William Faulkner is the author of such novels as The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! He also wrote the screenplays for The Big Sleep and To Have and Have Not. A recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, he died in 1962.
John Fitzgerald is the son of Paul Fitzgerald, who served with J. D. Salinger during World War II.
Paul Fitzgerald served with Salinger in the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) during World War II; the two men maintained a friendship over the next sixty years.
Fred Fogo is the author of I Read the News Today: The Social Drama of John Lennon’s Death. He is a communications professor at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.
Lacey Fosburgh worked as a staff reporter for the New York Times from 1968 to 1973 and, in that role, interviewed J. D. Salinger. She died in 1993.
Will Fowler is the author of over a dozen books on military history, including D-Day: The Normandy Landings of June 6, 1944.
Elizabeth Frank, a professor at Bard College, is the author of a Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of the poet and critic Louise Bogan.
Paul Fussell, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote many books on war and literature, including The Great War and Modern Memory. He died in 2012.
Gerard L. Gaudrault was a psychiatrist in New Hampshire.
David Geffen created Asylum Records in 1970 and Geffen Records in 1980; he was one of the three founders of the film production company Dream Works SKG.
Maxwell Geismar was a critic and the author of American Moderns: From Rebellion to Conformity, a Mid-Century View of Contemporary Fiction and Reluctant Radical: A Memoir. He died in 1979.
Martha Gellhorn was a longtime war correspondent and the author of many books, including The Heart of Another. Married to Ernest Hemingway during the early 1940s, she died in 1998.
Rudolf Christoph von Gersdorff was the chief of staff for the German Seventh Army during World War II. He died in 1980.
Elizabeth Gleick is a former book reviewer for Time magazine who is now an executive editor at People.
Sanford Goldstein is a translator of Japanese literature and the author of numerous articles on J. D. Salinger.
Richard Gonder was a roommate of J. D. Salinger at Valley Forge Military Academy.
Anne Goodman was a writer and book reviewer for various publications, including Harper’s and the New Republic, where she wrote an influential essay on The Catcher in the Rye called “Mad About Children.”
Adam Gopnik is the author of Paris to the Moon, among other books, and a staff writer for the New Yorker.
Barbara Graustark, an editor at the New York Times, is a former journalist with Newsweek.
George Dawes Green is a writer and actor. He wrote the novel The Juror and appeared in the TV series The Moth.
Lawrence Grobel is the author of books on Truman Capote, Al Pacino, John Huston, and Marlon Brando.
Gerold Gross, publisher and agent, has worked at Harcourt, Brace and Pantheon Books, and served as senior vice president of Macmillan Company.
Henry Grunwald was managing editor of Time magazine. He died in 2005.
John Guare is the author of more than two dozen plays, including Six Degrees of Separation, which won an Obie Award, and The House of Blue Leaves, which won four Tony awards. He was awarded the 2003 PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for drama.
Stephen Guirgis is the author of several plays, including Jesus Hopped the A Train and The Motherfucker with the Hat, which was nominated for six Tony Awards. He has written for such television shows as NYPD Blue and The Sopranos.
Frederick L. Gwynn is the coauthor of The Fiction of J. D. Salinger.
Doug Hackett is the manager of the police department of Cornish, New Hampshire.
Bart Hagerman served in the 17th Airborne Division during World War II and is the author of such books as War Stories: The Men of the Airborne.
Richard Haitch writes for the Nation.
Jack Hallett served in the U.S. military during World War II.
Ian Hamilton was a founder of the influential British poetry magazines the Review and the New Review. The author of several books of poetry, including The Visit and Sixty Poems, he wrote biographies of Robert Lowell, Matthew Arnold, and J. D. Salinger, as well as Against Oblivion: Some Lives of the Twentieth-Century Poets. He died in 2001.
Alex Hanson is a reporter for the West Lebanon, New Hampshire, Valley News.
Howard M. Harper, the author of Desperate Faith: A Study of Bellow, Salinger, Mailer, Baldwin, and Updike, died in 1991.
David Victor Harris was a leader of Students for a Democratic Society during the 1960s. Married to Lacey Fosburgh from 1975 until her death in 1993, he is the author of the books Dreams Die Hard and Our War: What We Did in Vietnam and What It Did to Us.
Ihab Hassan, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, is the author of Radical Innocence: Studies in the Contemporary American Novel and The Dismemberment of Orpheus: Toward a Postmodern Literature.
Ernest Havemann was a journalist for such publications as Life magazine and the author of several books on psychology and society. He died in 1995.
Ernest Hemingway, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, is the author of numerous novels and stories, including A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises. He committed suicide in 1961.
Seán Hemingway, the grandson of Ernest Hemingway, is the Greek and Roman art curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is the editor of Hemingway on Hunting and Hemingway on War.
Anabel Heyen was a classmate of J. D. Salinger at Ursinus College, during the 1938–39 academic year.
Granville Hicks, a literary critic, was the author of The Great Tradition: An Interpretation of American Literature Since the Civil War and the novel Behold Trouble. He wrote for a variety of publications, including the New Republic and the Nation. He died in 1982.
Phoebe Hoban, named after the J. D. Salinger character Phoebe Caulfield, is the author of Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art and a contributor to the New York Times and New York magazine.
Russell Hoban was an illustrator and the author of a series of children’s and young adult books, including The Mouse and the Child, and the novel Riddley Walker. He died in 2011.
Will Hochman is the co-editor of Letters to J. D. Salinger.
William H. Honan, a longtime reporter for the New York Times, is the author of Treasure Hunt.
A. E. Hotchner, a friend of J. D. Salinger in the late 1940s and longtime friend of Ernest Hemingway, is the author of Papa Hemingway, King of the Hill, and many other books.
Irving Howe, a literary and cultural critic, is the author of numerous books, including World of Our Fathers. He died in 1993.
Mark Howland is a teacher at the Tabor Academy in Massachusetts.
David Huddle is a professor and fiction writer who served in the United States Army from 1964 to 1967.
Hillel Italie is an Associated Press reporter.
Harvey Jason is a co-owner of Mystery Pier Books, a rare books store in West Hollywood.
Burnace Fitch Johnson is the former town clerk of Cornish, New Hampshire.
Elliot Johnson was a lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Division during World War II.
Colonel Gerden F. Johnson wrote the history of the U.S. Army’s 12th Infantry Regiment in World War II.
Charisse Jones is a national correspondent for USA Today.
Jack Jones, the author of Let Me Take You Down, a biography of Mark David Chapman, is a journalist.
Michiko Kakutani is the lead book critic for the New York Times; she won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.
Isa Kapp was a literary critic.
Alfred Kazin was an influential New York literary critic and author of many books, including New York Jew, A Writer’s America, and Writing Was Everything. He died in 1998.
John Keenan, who served with Salinger in the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) during World War II, was chief of New York City detectives until his retirement in 1978.
Alex Kershaw is the author of three books on World War II—The Bedford Boys, The Longest Winter, and The Few: The American “Knights of the Air” Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain—as well as biographies of Robert Capa and Jack London.
Werner Kleeman served with J. D. Salinger in World War II. He is the author of From Dachau to D-Day.
Seymour Krim was an author and critic. He wrote the books Views of a Nearsighted Cannoneer, Manhattan, Stories of a Great City, and Maugham the Artist. He died in 1989.
Chris Kubica is the co-editor of Letters to J. D. Salinger.
Thomas Kunkel is the author of Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker and Letters from the Editor: The New Yorker’s Harold Ross.
Richard Lacayo is a writer for Time.
Roger Lathbury is a professor at George Mason University and proprietor of Orchises Press, which was scheduled, several times during the late 1990s, to publish “Hapworth 16, 1924” as a book.
John Leggett is the author of Ross and Tom: Two American Tragedies and a biography of William Saroyan. He was an editor and publicity director at Houghton Mifflin from 1950 to 1960 and an editor at Harper & Row from 1960 to 1967.
John Lennon was a member of the Beatles who went on to release several solo albums before being assassinated in 1980.
Pierre N. Leval was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Paul Levine was a literary critic.
Jon E. Lewis is a historian and author whose books include The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness World War II: Over 200 First-Hand Accounts from the Six Years That Tore the World Apart.
Gordon Lish is a novelist, former book editor at Knopf, and former fiction editor at Esquire; he wrote a story in 1977 initially rumored to be by J. D. Salinger.
Gus Lobrano was a fiction editor at the New Yorker who edited many of Salinger’s short stories that appeared in the magazine.
T. Morris Longstreth was a critic at the Christian Science Monitor and a novelist. He wrote a series of novels on the Adirondack region, including Mac of Placid.
Arnold H. Lubasch was a reporter for the New York Times.
Leila Hadley Luce was a travel writer, journalist, and philanthropist; her books include A Journey with Elsa Cloud and Give Me the World. A onetime girlfriend of J. D. Salinger, she died in 2009.
James Lundquist is the author of J. D. Salinger, a work of literary criticism.
Stephan Lynn operated on John Lennon following his shooting by Mark David Chapman. He is the emergency room director at St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.
John McCarten was a writer for the New Yorker during the 1930s.
Mary McCarthy wrote novels, memoirs, and literary criticism, including, in 1962, the influential “J. D. Salinger’s Closed Circuit.” She died in 1989.
Michael McDermott is a photographer who twice photographed J. D. Salinger.
Julie McDermott resides in Cornish, New Hampshire, and works at a grocery store in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Edwin McDowell was a reporter for the New York Times. He died in 2007.
Bradley R. McDuffie is the author of the essay “For Ernest, with Love and Squalor: the Influence of Ernest Hemingway on J. D. Salinger.”
Robert D. McFadden, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is a longtime reporter for the New York Times.
Geraldine McGowan is a freelance writer and editor living in Boston.
Charles McGrath, a former editor of the New Yorker, is a writer for the New York Times.
Cathleen McGuigan is a senior editor and writer at Newsweek.
Jesse McKinley is a writer on culture for the New York Times.
John C. McManus, a military consultant to this book, is a professor of U.S. military history at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The official historian for the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Regiment, he is the author of many books on military history, including The Americans at Normandy and, most recently, Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq.
Larissa MacFarquhar is a staff writer for the New Yorker.
Norman Mailer is the author of many books, including Executioner’s Song and Armies of the Night, both of which won the Pulitzer Prize. He died in 2007.
Janet Malcolm is a staff writer for the New Yorker and the author of several books.
Marsha Malinowski is an expert in the books and manuscripts department of Sotheby’s.
Jay Martin, a professor at Claremont McKenna University, is the author of Who Am I This Time: Uncovering the Fictive Personality.
Anne Marple was a literary critic, writing for such publications as the New Republic.
Sergeant Ralph G. Martin served in World War II, writing for Stars and Stripes and Yank.
Carol Matthau, a childhood friend of Oona O’Neill, was married to William Saroyan, then to Walter Matthau. The author of the memoir Among the Porcupines, she died in 1978.
Herbert Mayes, an editor at Good Housekeeping and McCall’s, died in 1987.
William Maxwell was a fiction editor at the New Yorker from 1936 to 1976 and author of several works of fiction, including the National Book Award-winning novel So Long See You Tomorrow. He died in 2000.
Joyce Maynard, who lived with J. D. Salinger in the early 1970s, is the author of many novels, including To Die For, and a memoir, At Home in the World.
Ved Mehta was a staff writer at the New Yorker for more than thirty years. He has written numerous books about India.
Ib Melchior is a Danish writer and filmmaker.
J. Reid Meloy is a forensic psychologist specializing in stalkers and assassins.
Louis Menand is a professor at Harvard University, a critic at the New Yorker, and the author of The Metaphysical Club, which received the Pulitzer Prize.
Robert E. Merriam was an army captain during World War II and later became a politician who served in various government positions. He wrote Dark December: The Full Account of the Battle of the Bulge.
Stephen Metcalf is a writer for Slate magazine.
Nicholas Meyer is the writer/director of three Star Trek films; he also wrote and directed Time After Time.
Charles Meyers served in the Counter Intelligence Corps during World War II.
Edward G. Miller served in the army from 1980 to 2000. He is the author of A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hürtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944–1945.
Jean Miller met J. D. Salinger in 1949 and had a relationship with him for the next six years.
Michael Mitchell designed the original cover of The Catcher in the Rye.
Paul L. Montgomery was a reporter for the New York Times.
Rick Moody is the author of several novels, including The Ice Storm.
David Moore was an official at the YMCA who served with Mark David Chapman at an Arkansas camp for the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees in the late 1970s.
Deborah Dash Moore is the author of G.I. Jews and other books and articles on Jewish culture and history. She teaches at the University of Michigan, where she serves as director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies.
Dinty Moore is a writer, the editor of Creative Nonfiction, and an English professor at Ohio University. His books include Between Panic and Desire.
George Morgan was a sergeant in the 22nd Infantry Regiment during the battle of Hürtgen Forest.
Mack Morriss was an army sergeant and war correspondent for Yank magazine during World War II.
Joe Moses was a lieutenant in the United States Army during World War II.
John Mosher was a longtime writer and editor at the New Yorker.
Bruce F. Mueller, who lives in San Francisco, is a Salinger scholar.
Elizabeth Murray, whose brother was a classmate of J. D. Salinger at Valley Forge Military Academy, was an early encourager of Salinger’s literary ambitions.
Gloria Murray is the daughter of Elizabeth Murray and the author of a biography of Oona O’Neill.
Debs Myers was a war correspondent during World War II.
Ethel Nelson, who resides in Cornish, New Hampshire, was nanny to J. D. Salinger’s children; she met him while attending Windsor High School in the early 1950s. Nelson and Salinger knew each other over many decades.
Jay Neugeboren is the author of over a dozen books, including Imagining Robert, The Stolen Jew, and Before My Life Began.
Jon O. Newman is an American Federal Appeals Court judge. He has served on the U.S Second Circuit Court of Appeals since 1979.
Sarah Norris’s great-grandmother was Elizabeth Murray, who befriended Salinger; Norris is now a writer who lives in Nashville.
Edward Norton is a film and stage actor, writer, and director, known for roles in films such as American History X, Fight Club, and The Bourne Legacy.
Peter Norton is a computer programmer.
Cyrus Nowrasteh is the writer/director of The Day Reagan Was Shot and the writer of The Path to 9/11 and other TV miniseries.
Ken Oakley was a British naval commando who landed on Sword Beach in the first wave on D-Day and later chaired the Royal Naval Commando Association. He died on October 25, 2007.
Joyce Carol Oates is the author of more than forty novels; her novel them won the National Book Award.
Dorothy Olding was Salinger’s literary agent for fifty years.
Colleen O’Neill, a nurse and award-winning quilter, was married to J. D. Salinger from 1988 until his death in 2010.
Oona O’Neill, the daughter of Eugene O’Neill, dated J. D. Salinger until his entry into the U.S. Army. She married Charlie Chaplin, had eight children, and died in 1991.
Cynthia Ozick is an essayist, short story writer, and novelist. Her books include The Messiah of Stockholm, The Blue Shawl, What Henry James Knew, and The Din in the Head: Essays.
Arthur J. Pais is a New York–based freelance writer, editor, and journalism teacher. He writes regularly for India Today, Economic Times, and Far Eastern Economic Review.
Alton Pearson served as a corporal in the 12th Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division during World War II.
S. J. Perelman was a humorist, screenwriter, longtime contributor to the New Yorker, and author of over twenty books. He died in 1979.
Marc Peyser is the author of First Cousins: The Untold Story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
Gina Piccalo is a reporter with the Los Angeles Times.
Joyce Burrington Pierce is a resident of Windsor, Vermont.
Jose de M. Platanopez was a resident of Houston, Texas, who wrote a letter to the New York Times Book Review criticizing J. D. Salinger’s Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.
George Plimpton was the editor of the Paris Review until his death in 2003. He published an account of Betty Eppes’s 1980 interview with J. D. Salinger.
Katha Pollitt is an American poet, essayist, and critic. She writes the “Subject to Debate” column for the Nation and is the author of Antarctic Traveller, a poetry collection that won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983.
Charles Poore was a book critic for the New York Times.
Vincent Powell was a sergeant in the 237th Engineer Combat Battalion during World War II.
Orville Prescott was a book critic for the New York Times. He died in 1996.
Ernie Pyle was a correspondent during World War II who died in Okinawa in April 1945.
Judy Quinn is an artist from Kenya who now lives in the United Sates.
Nancy Ralston was a literary critic.
Sri Ramakrishna was a Hindu guru in India who was born in 1836 and died in 1886.
Russell Reeder served as a colonel and commander of the 12th Infantry Regiment in World War II at the time of the D-Day invasion. After being severely wounded, he wrote many books on the military and war. He died in 1998.
David Remnick is the editor of the New Yorker. He is the author of Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, which won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize.
Mordecai Richler was a Canadian novelist, screenwriter, and essayist. His books include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, for which he wrote the Academy Award–nominated screenplay, and Barney’s Version. He died in 2001.
General Matthew Ridgway commanded U.S. paratroopers during World War II and later commanded Allied troops in the Korean War.
David Roderick, who was a staff sergeant in the 4th Infantry Division, became a teacher and high school football coach. The author of Deeds Not Words, an unpublished history of the 22nd Infantry Regiment, he died in 2007.
John Romano is a screenwriter.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the thirty-second president of the United States.
Ron Rosenbaum is a writer for the New York Observer and the author of Explaining Hitler and The Secret Parts of Fortune: Three Decades of Intense Investigations and Edgy Enthusiasms.
Noah Rosenberg is a reporter for the Queens (N.Y.) Courier.
Lillian Ross is an American journalist and author who has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1949. She was a longtime friend of J. D. Salinger.
Philip Roth, an American novelist, is the author of such novels as Portnoy’s Complaint, The Human Stain, and American Pastoral, He has received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.
Louise Roug is a reporter with the Los Angeles Times.
S. J. Rowland was a columnist at the Christian Science Monitor.
Howard Ruppel, a World War II veteran, is the chancellor and academic dean of the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.
Ted Russell is a former photographer for Life.
Doris Salinger, J. D. Salinger’s sister and a longtime buyer at Bloomingdale’s, died in 2001.
Margaret Salinger, the daughter of J. D. Salinger, is the author of a memoir, Dream Catcher. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University, she received a master’s degree in Management Studies from Oxford University and studied at the Harvard University Divinity School.
Matthew Salinger, the son of J. D. Salinger, is an actor and theater producer. He appeared in What Dreams May Come and on episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He produced the award-winning play The Syringa Tree in 2000.
Aram Saroyan is a poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist, and playwright. His books include Trio: Portrait of an Intimate Friendship—Oona Chaplin, Carol Matthau, Gloria Vanderbilt.
Jennifer Schuessler is a staff editor at the New York Times Book Review.
Jonathan Schwartz is a radio host on WYNC and Sirius.
Jane Scovell is the author of Oona: Living in the Shadows, a biography of Oona O’Neill.
Walter Scott writes a column for Parade magazine.
John Seabrook is a staff writer at the New Yorker.
John Seelye is an American literature professor at the University of Florida,
Laurence Shames is an American writer of crime fiction and the author of Boss of Bosses, a bestselling book about the Mafia.
Ian Shapiro is a reporter for the Washington Post.
William Shawn was the editor of the New Yorker from 1952 until 1987. He edited the later stories of J. D. Salinger that appeared in the magazine. He died in 1998.
Michael Silverblatt is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show Bookworm.
William L. Shirer is the author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. He died in 1993.
Judith Shulevitz is a contributor to Slate and the New York Times.
Franklin Sibert was a lieutenant colonel in the 12th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division during World War II. He commanded the Second Battalion.
John Sim served as a captain in the 12th Parachute Battalion in World War II.
Dean Simonton is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis; his research focuses on genius and psychological history.
Mona Simpson’s novels include Anywhere But Here and The Lost Father. She teaches at UCLA.
John Skow was a longtime staff writer for Time magazine.
Dinitia Smith is a national cultural correspondent for the New York Times. She is the author of three novels, including The Illusionist.
Albert Sohl was a private in the 12th Infantry Regiment during World War II.
Stephen Spiro served in the New York Police Department for decades before retiring. He arrested Mark David Chapman following Chapman’s shooting of John Lennon.
Alessandra Stanley is the chief television critic for the New York Times.
Richard Stayton is the editor of Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild of America, West.
Sharon Steel is a senior editor at Artizia.
George Steiner is a literary critic.
Pamela Hunt Steinle is a professor of American Studies at California State University, Fullerton, and the author of In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character.
Charles Steinmetz was a classmate of J. D. Salinger at Ursinus College.
James Stern was a literary critic, translator, and author of such short-story collections as The Man Who Was Loved. He died in 1993.
Clyde Stodghill served in the 4th Infantry Division in World War II.
David Streitfeld had been a reporter for the Washington Post and is now a reporter for the New York Times
Harvey Swados was an essayist and novelist who wrote Out Went the Candle and Nights in the Gardens of Brooklyn. He died in 1972.
Gay Talese is the author of eleven books, including The Kingdom and the Power and Thy Neighbor’s Wife.
Michael Tannenbaum has written on J. D. Salinger.
Cielle Tewksbury teaches workshops in Mythology, Movement, and Symbolism.
Gwen Tetirick was a neighbor of J. D. Salinger.
Frances Thierolf was a classmate of J. D. Salinger at Ursinus College; her married name, Frances Glassmoyer, was the inspiration for the name “Franny Glass.”
John Toland was a historian and author whose books include Battle: The Story of the Bulge and Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography. He died in 2004.
Michael Tosta was a literary critic and professor at Johnson College.
Robert Towne wrote the screenplays for Chinatown and Shampoo, directed Without Limits, and has served as a script doctor for numerous films including, most famously, The Godfather.
Joseph B. Treaster is a veteran reporter and former foreign correspondent for the New York Times.
John C. Unrue is a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the author of J. D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.”
John Updike, who died in 2009, was the author of more than fifty books, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit at Rest.
Gloria Vanderbilt, a childhood friend of Oona O’Neill, is an American heiress and socialite.
Gore Vidal, a novelist, essayist, playwright, and journalist, is the author of such books as Burr, Myra Breckinridge, Lincoln, and Palimpsest. His essay collection, United States, received the National Book Award. He died in 2012.
John Wain, who died in 1994, was an English writer and critic.
Jerry Wald was a screenwriter and movie producer.
Michael Walzer is a professor emeritus of political science at Princeton. His books include What It Means to Be an American and The Company of Critics.
Bob Wandesforde served in the 4th Infantry Division during World War II and later became a commercial illustrator. He died in 1990.
Donald A. Warner was a first lieutenant in the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division during World War II.
Juliet Waters is a journalist at the Montreal Mirror.
Myles Weber is a professor at Ashland University in Ohio. He is the author of Consuming Silences: How We Read Nonpublication and Middlebrow Annoyances: American Drama in the 21st Century.
Marc Weingarten is the author of The Gang That Wouldn’t Write Straight and From Hipsters to Gonzo.
John Wenke, a professor at Salisbury State University in Maryland, is the author of J. D. Salinger: A Study of the Short Fiction.
Lawrence Weschler is the author of many books, including Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences.
Leslie Aldridge Westoff was a reporter for the New York Times.
E. B. White was an American writer and journalist at the New Yorker best known for his children’s books Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. He died in 1985.
Steven Whitfield is a professor of American studies at Brandeis University. His books include In Search of American Jewish Culture and The Culture of the Cold War.
William Wiegand was a book critic and professor of English at San Francisco State College.
Jon Wiener, a professor of history at University of California, Irvine, is the author of Come Together: John Lennon in His Time and Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files.
Billy Wilder was the director of numerous movies, including Sunset Boulevard and The Apartment.
George Wilson was a lieutenant in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division who landed on D-Day. His books include If You Survive.
John M. Wilson is a journalist at the Los Angeles Times.
Tom Wolfe, a key figure in the development of New Journalism, is the author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and several novels, including The Bonfire of the Vanities.
John Worthman served as a medic in the 22nd Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division during World War II.
David Yaffe is a professor at City University of New York and the author of Fascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing.
Ben Yagoda, the author of About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made, is the director of the University of Delaware’s journalism department.
Jonathan Yardley is a Pulitzer Prize–winning book critic for the Washington Post.
Bertrand Yeaton was an artist and friend of J. D. Salinger.
Pat York is a photographer.
James Yuenger was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
Katie Zezima, formerly a reporter for the New York Times, is now a supervisory correspondent for the Associated Press.