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<p> As we have just passed the forty-fifth anniversary of the publication of In Cold Blood, readers continue to be fascinated by Truman Capote and his self-avowed masterpiece. Now Ralph Voss has written the first full-length critical treatment of the book, focusing on the methods Capote employed in writing it, on the continuing questions about its genre and themes, and on the tremendous effect the book has had in Kansas and beyond. Combining the skills of an accomplished cultural and literary critic with an intimate knowledge of the Kansas setting of the book, Voss shows us how this book paradoxically represents both the pinnacle of Capote's literary career and the beginning of a tragic period of artistic and personal failure. Voss's excellent study will undoubtedly take its place alongside other essential books on Capote. --Norman McMillan, author of Against a Copper Sky, a play about Truman Capote

“In emphasizing legacies, [Voss] spotlights Capote’s great achievement in producing the novel, despite the gossip surrounding its creation. The most damning of the legacies was celebrity, i.e., Capote’s need for it. . . . Well documented with endnotes, black-and-white photographs, and a thorough bibliography. Recommended.” —CHOICE “A new book by Ralph L. Voss, Truman Capote and the Legacy of ‘In Cold Blood,’ draws on previous literary forensics and his own scholarship to demonstrate Capote’s shocking faithlessness to the truth.”—Reuters “The most useful volume yet written on this remarkable cultural intersection of American literary genius and real-life prairie horror. Truman Capote and the Legacy of ‘In Cold Blood’ is the best companion volume imaginable for Capote's astonishing book.”—Kansas History

The most useful volume yet written on this remarkable cultural intersection of American literary genius and real-life prairie horror. Truman Capote and the Legacy of 'In Cold Blood' is the best companion volume imaginable for Capote's astonishing book. -- Kansas History Truman Capote and the Legacy of In Cold Blood is a riveting, finely written psychological/literary analysis, combined with meticulous historical research, by a Kansas native. Ralph Voss's subject is the context, creation, and impact of Capote's book. Voss's approach is an honest investigation into the very processes of investigation--by law enforcement in Kansas and by Capote the writer--as well as the creative processes of those influenced by In Cold Blood to contribute to American popular culture. --Claudia Durst Johnson, author Understanding To Kill A Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historic Documents

Author Information

Ralph F. Voss is a retired professor of English from the University of Alabama. He is the author of A Life of William Inge: The Strains of Triumph, editor of Magical Muse: Millennial Essays on Tennessee Williams, and coeditor of Against the Grain: A Volume in Honor of Maxine Hairston.

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