The Lardners

At the time of his premature death in 1933, Ring Lardner was one of the country’s most widely read and quoted writers, and his reputation has grown in the years since. In this loving but honest family memoir his only surviving son presents and enchanting, amusing and moving look at his father, his indomitable and delightful mother, Ellis Abbott Lardner, and his three remarkable brothers. Drawing skillfully on hundreds of family letters, the book presents glimpses of Ring, Sr. as an enthusiastic young newspaperman in love, as a father and as a celebrity and host to such friends as Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Heywood Broun, Herbert Bayard Swope, George Gershwin, Grantland Rice, George S. Kaufman and Dorothy Parker. There are glimpses, too, of his losing struggle with illness and alcohol. His four gifted sons–John, James, Ring, Jr. and David–grew up in a household that was also an informal school of journalism and creative writing, and that home life is a warm and lively part of this narrative. There is a full account of their later lives as well, including Ring, Jr.’s experiences as a two-Oscar screenwriter and the political events that lead to his conviction and imprisonment as one of the “Hollywood Ten” in the 1950s. Illustrated with photographs from family albums, The Lardners brings to life more than five decades of twentieth-century America through the stories of six unusual and memorable people.