Justin Kaplan | Author | LibraryThing

About the Author

Justin Kaplan was born in Manhattan, New York on September 5, 1925. He received a bachelor's degree in English from Harvard University, followed by graduate work in the field there, but he left before earning a doctorate to work as a freelance writer and book editor. His first book, Mr. Clemens and show more Mark Twain, won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1967 and a National Book Award. His other works include Lincoln Steffens: A Biography, When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age, and Walt Whitman: A Life, which won a National Book Award. He also wrote books with his wife Anne Bernays including The Language of Names and Back Then: Two Lives in 1950s New York. He was the editor of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. He died from complications of Parkinson's disease on March 2, 2014 at the age of 88. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Justin Kaplan, Justin Kaplan, Kaplan. J. D., Justin Kaplin, Ed. J. D. Kaplan, Justin E. Kaplan, Justin D. Kaplan, ed. Justin Kaplan, J. D. Kaplan Editor, J. D. editor Kaplan, Justin D. Kaplan ed., ed. Justin D. Kaplan, Editor Justn D. Kaplan, Editor Justin D. Kaplan, Edited By Justin D Kaplan, Justin E. Justin E. Kaplan editor

Works by Justin Kaplan

Popular Recent

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography (2003) 476 copies

Walt Whitman: A Life (1980) 446 copies

When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age (2006) — Author — 389 copies

The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters (1997) 165 copies

The Best American Essays 1990 (1990) — Editor — 117 copies

Mark Twain and His World (1974) 91 copies

Lincoln Steffens: A Biography (1974) 87 copies

Back Then: Two Lives in 1950s New York. (2002) 62 copies

Born to Trouble: One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn (1985) 11 copies

Mark Twain, a Profile 3 copies

With malice toward women; a handbook for women-haters drawn from the best minds of all time (1952) 2 copies

Mark Twain, a Profile (1967) 1 copy

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations: 17th edition 17th (seventeenth) Revised Edition published by Little, Brown &… 1 copy

Treasure and vengeance. (Rereading).(reading "The Count of Monte Cristo")(Critical Essay): An article from: American… 1 copy

"Half Song-Thrush, Half Aliigator 1 copy

Aristotle 1 copy

Mark Twain 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) — Introduction, some editions — 11,547 copies

Leaves of Grass (1855) — Introduction, some editions — 10,257 copies

Familiar Quotations (1855) — Editor, some editions — 4,109 copies

Whitman: Poetry and Prose (1982) — Editor, some editions — 1,282 copies

The Collected Dialogues of Plato (0004) — Editor, some editions — 886 copies

For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 452 copies

The Pocket Aristotle: Selections from physics, psychology, metaphysics, Nicomachean ethics, politics, poetics (1958) — Editor, some editions; Preface, some editions — 413 copies

Forgotten Heroes: Inspiring American Portraits from Our Leading Historians (1999) — Contributor — 109 copies

Literary Genius: 25 Classic Writers Who Define English & American Literature (2007) — Contributor — 90 copies

Tagged

19th century (31) American (17) American history (24) American literature (41) anthology (13) Astors (7) authors (8) bio (10) biography (316) Biography & Autobiography (8) essays (35) Gilded Age (22) hardcover (9) history (86) hotels (10) language (25) linguistics (8) literary biography (18) literary criticism (14) literature (24) Mark Twain (50) memoir (13) names (20) New York (40) New York City (25) non-fiction (125) NYC (8) poetry (34) poets (7) psychology (11) read (8) reference (9) to-read (49) Twain (18) unread (10) USA (19) Walt Whitman (25) wealth (8) Whitman (14) writers (11)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Kaplan, Justin
Legal name: Kaplan, Justin Daniel
Birthdate: 1925-09-05
Date of death: 2014-03-02
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
Place of death: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Places of residence: New York, New York, USA
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Education: Harvard College (AB|English|1944)
Occupations: editor
biographer
Relationships: Bernays, Anne (spouse)
Organizations: Simon & Schuster
Bartlett's
Awards and honors: Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1985)

Members

Reviews

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography by Justin Kaplan

"Although this biography of Mark Twain begins when Twain is 31 ... the book is a full account of Twain, his life and his work related both to his early years and to the 'Gilded Age' of his mature life."

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PendleHillLibrary | 6 other reviews | Apr 1, 2024 |

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography by Justin Kaplan

Just finished last night. Lots of interesting details about Clemens and an interesting glimpse into that period of history in the U.S.

A birthday present from Leslie--can't wait to dive into it tonight!

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lschiff | 6 other reviews | Sep 24, 2023 |

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography by Justin Kaplan

Good literary biography of Mark Twain.

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kslade | 6 other reviews | Dec 8, 2022 |

When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and… by Justin Kaplan

Really more of a social history than a financial history, especially since the source of the Astor family wealth -- its massive real estate holdings alluded to in the title -- is only glancingly looked at, in favour of assorted family eccentricities and scandals. The family history stuff is fairly old hat -- readers of Lucius Beebe would be familiar with it. A missed opportunity, in some respects, though it's still an interesting read.

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EricCostello | 14 other reviews | Aug 8, 2021 |

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