Well known as a beloved longtime fiction editor at the New Yorker, William Maxwell worked closely with such legendary writers as John Updike, Vladimir Nabokov, Mary McCarthy, and John Cheever. Drawing on a wide range of previously unavailable materials, Barbara Burkhardt's biography of Maxwell includes letters to him by authors such as Eudora Welty, excerpts from his unpublished manuscripts and correspondence, and her own interviews with key figures from his life.