Arthur Miller (1) (1915–2005)

Author of The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts

For other authors named Arthur Miller, see the disambiguation page.

155+ Works 37,849 Members 395 Reviews 46 Favorited

About the Author

The son of a well-to-do New York Jewish family, Miller graduated from high school and then went to work in a warehouse. He was born on October 17, 1915, in Harlem, New York City. His plays have been called "political," but he considers the areas of literature and politics to be quite separate and show more has said, "The only sure and valid aim---speaking of art as a weapon---is the humanizing of man." The recurring theme of all his plays is the relationship between a man's identity and the image that society demands of him. After two years, he entered the University of Michigan, where he soon started writing plays. All My Sons (1947), a Broadway success that won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1947, tells the story of a son, home from the war, who learns that his brother's death was due to defective airplane parts turned out by their profiteering father. Death of a Salesman (1949), Miller's experimental yet classical American tragedy, received both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1949. It is a poignant statement of a man facing himself and his failure. In The Crucible (1953), a play about bigotry in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, Miller brings into focus the social tragedy of a society gone mad, as well as the agony of a heroic individual. The play was generally considered to be a comment on the McCarthyism of its time. Miller himself appeared before the Congressional Un-American Activities Committee and steadfastly refused to involve his friends and associates when questioned about them. His screenplay for The Misfits (1961), from his short story, was written for his second wife, actress Marilyn Monroe (see Vol. 3); After the Fall (1964) has clear autobiographical overtones and involves the story of this ill-fated marriage as well as further dealing with Miller's experiences with McCarthyism. In the one-act Incident at Vichy (1964), a group of men are picked off the streets one morning during the Nazi occupation of France. The Price (1968) is a psychological drama concerning two brothers, one a police officer, one a wealthy surgeon, whose long-standing conflict is explored over the disposal of their father's furniture. The Creation of the World and Other Business (1973) is a retelling of the story of Genesis, attempted as a comedy. The American Clock (1980) explores the impact of the Depression on the nation and its individual citizens. Among Miller's most recent works is Danger: Memory! (1987), a study of two elderly friends. During the 1980s, almost all of Miller's plays were given major British revivals, and the playwright's work has been more popular in Britain than in the United States of late. Miller died of heart failure after a battle against cancer, pneumonia and congestive heart disease at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. He was 89 years old. (Bowker Author Biography) Arthur Miller, American playwright, was born on October 17, 1915, in New York City. He earned an AB from the University of Michigan and began to write plays while still a student. He won the first of his many awards, the Avery Hopwood Prize of the University of Michigan, for his first play, Honors at Dawn. This was followed by many other award-winning plays. One of the best-known of these, Death of a Salesman, won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1949 as well as a Drama Critics Circle Award; it continues to be one of the most frequently performed and adapted plays of this century. Some of his other titles include The Crucible, A View From the Bridge, The Misfits, After the Fall, and Vichy. Miller also wrote several travel pieces, including In Russia and Chinese Encounters (both in collaboration with his third wife, Ingeborg Morath); a novel, Focus; and the autobiography, Timebends: A Life. Arthur Miller was married to Mary Grace Slattery in 1940. They had two children and were divorced in 1952. In 1956, he married actress Marilyn Monroe and they divorced in 1961. He married Morath in 1962 and they have two children together. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Image credit: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library

Series

Arthur Miller: Plays

Works by Arthur Miller

Popular Recent

The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts (1953) — Author — 15,436 copies

Death of a Salesman (1948) 12,240 copies

Death of a Salesman [critical edition] (1967) 1,260 copies

A View from the Bridge (1955) 1,094 copies

All My Sons (1947) 1,093 copies

After the Fall (1964) 610 copies

Timebends: A Life (1987) 573 copies

The Portable Arthur Miller (1971) 411 copies

Focus (1945) 398 copies

An Enemy of the People (1950) 348 copies

A View from the Bridge & All My Sons (1961) 339 copies

Arthur Miller: Collected Plays 1944-1961 (Library of America) (2000) 304 copies

The Price (1968) — Author — 284 copies

Incident at Vichy [2016 TV movie] (1964) — Play — 253 copies

The Misfits (1961) — Author — 160 copies

The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991) 148 copies

The Crucible: Text and Criticism (1971) 140 copies

Presence: Collected Stories (2007) 134 copies

Broken Glass (1994) 132 copies

Echoes Down the Corridor: Collected Essays, 1944-2000 (2000) 116 copies

Miller Plays 1: All My Sons / Death of a Salesman / The Crucible / A Memory of Two Mondays / A View from the Bridge (1988) 109 copies

Homely Girl, A Life: And Other Stories (1992) 105 copies

Plain Girl (1992) — Author — 101 copies

Collected Plays 1964-1982 (2012) 99 copies

Collected Plays (1957) 98 copies

The Misfits [1961 film] (1961) — Screenwriter — 96 copies

On Politics and the Art of Acting (2001) 84 copies

The Penguin Arthur Miller: Collected Plays (2015) — Author — 76 copies

Playing for Time (1985) 75 copies

I Don't Need You Any More (1967) — Author — 72 copies

The Crucible and Related Readings (1996) 71 copies

Danger: Memory!. (1986) 63 copies

Collected Plays 1987-2004 (2015) 55 copies

The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972) 54 copies

The Man Who Had All the Luck (1940) 53 copies

Death of a Salesman [1985 TV movie] (1985) — Screenwriter — 52 copies

Resurrection Blues (2002) 52 copies

The Misfits, story of a shoot (1672) 50 copies

The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller (1978) 49 copies

The American Clock (1980) 49 copies

The Crucible: A Screenplay (1996) 45 copies

Eight Plays: All My Sons / Death of a Salesman / The Crucible; A Memory of Two Mondays; A View from the Bridge / After… (1981) 45 copies

The Last Yankee (1991) 45 copies

Chinese Encounters (1979) 43 copies

The Archbishop's Ceiling and the American Clock: Two Plays (1989) 42 copies

Mr. Peters' Connections (1998) — Author — 38 copies

Salesman in Beijing (1984) 36 copies

The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977) 33 copies

A Memory of Two Mondays (1955) 33 copies

The Last Yankee & Broken Glass (1994) 27 copies

All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, After the Fall (1995) 25 copies

In Russia (1969) 24 copies

The Crucible (Library Edition Audio CDs) (2000) 23 copies

Jane's Blanket (1963) 20 copies

Miller Plays 2: The Misfits / After the Fall / Incident at Vichy / The Price / The Creation of the World and Other… (1988) 20 copies

The Misfits: And Other Stories (Scribner Signature Edition) (1987) 18 copies

Hexenjagd: Der Tod Des Handlungsreisenden (1960) — Author — 17 copies

The Arthur Miller Audio Collection (2002) 15 copies

Some Kind of Love Story (1983) 13 copies

The Crucible by Arthur Miller (1986) 13 copies

Playing for Time [1980 film] (1980) — Writer — 12 copies

Teatro 12 copies

Arthur Miller's Collected Plays Volume II (2015) 11 copies

Penguin Plays: New American Drama (1966) 11 copies

Collected Essays (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (2016) 11 copies

Drámák (1974) 11 copies

Plays: Death of a Salesman, J.B., A Delicate Balance (1986) 10 copies

Everybody Wins: A Screenplay (1984) 10 copies

Two-way Mirror: "Elegy for a Lady" and "Some Kind of Love Story" (Modern Plays) (1982) 9 copies

Miller Plays 3: American Clock / The Archbishop's Ceiling / Two-Way Mirror (1990) 9 copies

Conversations With Arthur Miller (Literary Conversations Series) (1987) 9 copies

A Morte de Um Caixeiro-Viajante e Outras 4 Peças (Em Portuguese do Brasil) (2009) 8 copies

Teatro reunido (2015) 8 copies

The Collected Plays of Arthur Miller. Vol. 2 8 copies

Elegy For a Lady. (1982) 7 copies

Miller Plays 4: Golden Years / The Man Who Had All the Luck / I Can't Remember Anything / Clara (1994) 7 copies

Miller Plays 6: Broken Glass; Mr Peter's Connections; Resurrection Blues; Finishing the Picture (World Classics):… (2009) 7 copies

The collected essays of Arthur Miller (2015) 7 copies

La política i l'art d'actuar (2002) 6 copies

The Crucible in History and Other Essays (2000) 6 copies

Todos Eran Mis Hijos & Despues De La Caida / All My Sons & After the Fall (Gran Teatro) (Spanish Edition) (1995) 6 copies

The Crucible = (Die Hexenjagd): An Opera in 4 Acts [vocal score] (1963) — Playwright — 6 copies

Plays : one (1986) 6 copies

Muerte de un viajante (pdf) (2015) 5 copies

The Last Yankee with A new Essay About Theatre Language And Broken Glass (1994) 5 copies

Collected Plays: v. 1 (1974) 5 copies

Two Plays: The American Clock, The Arch-Bishop's Ceiling (1989) 5 copies

Final Edition (1981) 4 copies

Na de zondeval ; Incident in Vichy 4 copies

Miller Plays 5: Last Yankee / The Ride Down Mount Morgan / Almost Everybody Wins (1995) 4 copies

Mr. Peters' Connections - Acting Edition (1998) 4 copies

Everybody Wins [1990 film] (2005) — Writer — 4 copies

Collected plays, 1944-1961 (2011) 4 copies

Death of a Salesman: Revised Edition (Critical Library, Viking) (1996) 4 copies

I presidenti americani e l'arte di recitare (2001) 3 copies

Teatro (La muerte de un viajante, Todos eran mis hijos) (1959) — Author — 3 copies

The Golden Years / The Man Who Had All The Luck (1989) 3 copies

The Crucible Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc; Later Edition edition (1998) 3 copies

Death of a Salesman, etc 3 copies

Lasst sie bitte leben: Short Stories (1998) 3 copies

A view from the bridge : an opera in two acts ; libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Arthur Miller (2002) 3 copies

Stücke 1 (2009) 3 copies

"Death of a salesman" in Beijing (2015) 2 copies

The crucible: Play and study notes 2 copies

Enchanté de vous connaître (Pavillons poche) (2013) — Author — 2 copies

The Classic Plays (Penguin Modern Classics) (2015) 2 copies

Arthur Miller. Gesammelte Erzählungen (1969) 2 copies

Les sorcières de salem suivi de vu du pont (1962) 2 copies

All My Sons, Vienna's English Theatre 2 copies

The Crucible / A View from the Bridge (1965) 2 copies

Op zoek naar een toekomst verhalen (2012) 2 copies

Pascal Covici, 1888-1964 (1964) — Contributor — 2 copies

Ricordo di due lunedì (in Teatro) (1960) 2 copies

The Pussycat and the Expert Plumber Who Was a Man 2 copies

Death of a Salesman. Interpretationshilfe. (Advanced). (Lernmaterialien) 2 copies

Teatro. Erano tutti miei figli. Morte di un commesso viaggiatore. Il crogiuolo. Ricordo di due lunedÝ. Uno sguardo dal… 2 copies

Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller (2017) 2 copies

Widerhall der Zeit : Essays (2003) 2 copies

Death Of A Salesman - Act 1 & 2 1 copy

The Portable Arthur Miller - Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, Incident at Vichy, The PRice, Misfits, Fame, Fitter's… 1 copy

Dramak 1 copy

Arthur Miller's Collected Plays - The Franklin Library - Allan Mardon Illustrations 1 copy

The Crucible - Spoken Arts 1 copy

BRUJAS DE SALEM, LAS - EL CRISOL (Spanish Edition) (2011) 1 copy

Rare Arthur Miller / Death of a Salesman Signed 1st Edition 1981 1 copy

Rare Arthur Miller DEATH OF A SALESMAN First UK Edition signed 1st Edition -Cresset Press (1949) 1 copy

The Misfits 1 copy

Arthur Miller's adaptation of: An Enemy of the People 1 copy

Neue Stücke : Talfahrt / Der letzte Yankee / Scherben. Drei Dramen (1995) 1 copy

By Arthur Miller Las Brujas De Salem, El Crisol / The Salem Witches,The Crucible (Spanish Edition) (Tra) [Paperback] (1653) 1 copy

The Crucible, Plays in Performance, STC (1995) 1 copy

Bulldog [short story] (1983) 1 copy

Situation Normal 1 copy

I Kina (1979) 1 copy

A View from the Bridge & A Memory of Two Mondays: The Play 1 copy

Five Plays by Arthur Miller 1 copy

Collected plays of Arthur Miller 1 copy

Dramen. Hexenjagd - Der Tod ded Handlungdreisenden - Blick von der Brücke - Erinnerung an zwei Montage 1 copy

Elements of Literature The Crucible (1959) 1 copy

TDR #177 1 copy

Four Plays: Death of a Salesman; The Crucible; incident at Vichy; The Price 1 copy

The Death of a Salesman 1 copy

Enchanté de vous connaître : Et autres nouvelles (2005) 1 copy

Arthur Miller's Lecture at Columbia (11/17/1997) 1 copy

Arthur Miller Reading from Mr. Peters' Connections and Columbia University (11/17/1997) 1 copy

Miller Arthur 1 copy

Lektürehilfen Miller Death of a Salesman. Materialien. (Lernmaterialien) 1 copy

SCRIPT: The Crucible 1 copy

The Crucible - Multiple Critical Perspectives (2008) 1 copy

En handelsreisendes død : noen fortrolige samtaler i to akter og et rekviem 1 copy

The Crucible - Hexenjagd von Arthur Miller: Textanalyse und Interpretation mit ausführlicher Inhaltsangabe und… (2013) 1 copy

Miller Plays 1: All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A Memory of Two Mondays, A View from the Bridge (World… (2009) 1 copy

Arthur Miller's Collected Plays - The Franklin Library - Allan Mardon Illustrations (1981) 1 copy

The Crucible 🎭 ❤ ✓ (Live Theatre-Imperial Theatre) 1 copy

Penguin Plays, The Crucible 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) — Introduction, some editions — 8,054 copies

Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 925 copies

Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number (1980) — Foreword, some editions — 476 copies

Six Great Modern Plays (1956) — Contributor — 473 copies

The Best American Short Stories 2002 (2002) — Contributor — 465 copies

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

Telling Tales (2004) — Contributor — 345 copies

Literature: The Human Experience (2006) — Contributor — 341 copies

24 Favorite One Act Plays (1958) — Contributor — 287 copies

Famous American Plays of the 1940s (1900) — Contributor — 235 copies

The Best American Essays 1999 (1999) — Contributor — 186 copies

Writers on Writing, 2: More Collected Essays from the New York Times (2003) — Contributor — 186 copies

Masterpieces of the Drama (1966) — Contributor — 180 copies

This Is My Best: Great Writers Share Their Favorite Work (2004) — Contributor — 160 copies

Writers at Work 03 (1967) — Interviewee — 145 copies

Granta 78: Bad Company (2002) — Contributor — 135 copies

Telling Tales and Other New One-Act Plays (1993) — Contributor — 114 copies

New voices in the American theatre (1955) — Contributor — 114 copies

Playwrights on Playwriting: The Meaning and Making of Modern Drama from Ibsen to Ionesco (1960) — Contributor — 110 copies

One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theater (1961) — Contributor — 106 copies

The Crucible [1996 film] (1997) — Original play — 93 copies

Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (2003) — Contributor — 73 copies

Who's Writing This? Notations on the Authorial I, with Self-Portraits {not Antæus} (1995) — Contributor — 72 copies

Contemporary Drama: 15 Plays (1959) — Contributor — 70 copies

Great Esquire Fiction (1983) — Contributor — 70 copies

Best American Plays: Third Series, 1945-1951 (1952) — Contributor — 69 copies

Genesis as It Is Written: Contemporary Writers on Our First Stories (1996) — Contributor — 63 copies

The Jewish Writer (1998) — Contributor — 52 copies

Contemporary Drama - 11 Plays (1956) — Contributor — 46 copies

Best American Plays: Fourth Series, 1951-1957 (1958) — Contributor — 43 copies

Modern and Contemporary Drama (1958) — Contributor — 43 copies

Three Plays About Business in America: The Adding Machine, Beggar on Horseback, All My Sons (1964) — Contributor — 36 copies

Cuba on the Verge: An Island in Transition (2003) — Afterword — 34 copies

In Search of the Simple Life: American Voices, Past and Present (1986) — Contributor — 34 copies

50 Best Plays of the American Theatre [4-volume set] (1969) — Contributor — 33 copies

A Treasury of the Theatre: From Henrik Ibsen to Eugène Ionesco (1960) — Contributor — 32 copies

14 great plays (1977) — Contributor — 31 copies

Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 29 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1967 (1967) — Contributor — 27 copies

The Best American Political Writing 2002 (2002) — Contributor — 27 copies

Best American Plays: 7th Series, 1967-1973 (1975) — Contributor — 25 copies

America on Stage : Ten Great Plays of American History (1976) — Contributor — 22 copies

Inge Morath: The Road to Reno (2006) — Afterword, some editions — 21 copies

Death of a Salesman [1966 TV movie] (1966) — Original play — 13 copies

Brooklyn Bridge [1981 TV episode] (2004) — Narrator — 11 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1962 (1962) — Contributor — 11 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1960 (1960) — Contributor — 11 copies

Mystery in the Mainstream: An Anthology of Literary Crimes (1986) — Contributor — 9 copies

Focus [2001 movie] (2002) 6 copies

Antaeus No. 73/74, Spring 1994 - Who’s Writing This: Notations on the Authorial I {magazine} (1994) — Contributor — 5 copies

50 Best Plays of the American Theatre, Volume 4 — Contributor — 4 copies

All My Sons [1987 TV movie] — Original play — 2 copies

After the Fall [1974 TV movie] — Original play — 1 copy

32 Współczesne Opowiadania Amerykańskie - Tom I — Contributor — 1 copy

50 Best Plays of the American Theatre, Volume 3 — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (529) America (141) American (563) American drama (161) American literature (920) anthology (361) Arthur Miller (266) biography (123) classic (706) classics (855) drama (3,633) English (110) essays (160) fiction (2,096) historical fiction (301) history (141) literature (767) Miller (111) New Orleans (104) non-fiction (216) own (143) owned (101) paperback (120) play (1,836) plays (2,146) Pulitzer Prize (112) read (524) Salem (136) Salem Witch Trials (190) school (125) script (223) short stories (238) theatre (1,263) to-read (1,134) tragedy (202) unread (121) USA (209) witchcraft (149) witches (121) writing (111)

Common Knowledge

Legal name: Miller, Arthur Asher
Birthdate: 1915-10-17
Date of death: 2005-02-10
Burial location: Great Oak Cemetery, Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
Place of death: Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Places of residence: New York, New York, USA
Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Education: University of Michigan (BA | English | 1938)
Occupations: playwright
novelist
essayist
autobiographer
short-story writer
Relationships: Monroe, Marilyn (spouse|divorced)
Morath, Inge (spouse)
Miller, Rebecca (daughter)
Awards and honors: National Book Award, Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (2001)
Laura Pels Foundation Awards for Drama (1998)
Jerusalem Prize (2003)
National Medal of Arts (1993)
Kennedy Center Honors (1984)
Premio Príncipe de Asturias ( [2002]) (show all 8)
Jefferson Lecture (2001)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1958)

Members

Reviews

The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts by Arthur Miller

I had read this play in high school and I remember being quite fascinated by it. I enjoyed it this time as well. It's so interesting how people can get so caught up in something that they no longer use common sense. It's also sad how far some people will go to exact revenge on someone else. Whether that was the intent or was an unintended consequence. The fact that this was based on true events made it so much more interesting but also much sadder.
This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast episode 58
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185… (more)

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Piper29 | 158 other reviews | May 13, 2024 |

The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts by Arthur Miller

How easy the words of others can conform people to believe and think things to be truth. We see this daily in modern times. While it may not be hangings, there is a form of “witch hunts” that happen.

I have found that I am not a fan of reading plays.

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mybookloveobsession | 158 other reviews | Mar 12, 2024 |

The Crucible (Penguin Plays) by Arthur Miller

I can't decide if I didn't like this play cause the story is frustrating or cause the play is dumb. Either way I didn't like it, so I guess it doesn't really matter why

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bookonion | 158 other reviews | Mar 10, 2024 |

"Salesman" in Beijing by Arthur Miller

Things really get bogged down in the middle third of the book, Miller is just repeating himself endlessly about getting the actors to "be real". The choice was either to fail to finish reading the book, or just skip pages until it got to the previews and opening night. I chose the later, for both closure and out of curiosity, and I'm glad I did.

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blueskygreentrees | Feb 4, 2024 |

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