Ring: A Biography of Ring Lardner

Yardley remains one of the best critics of American literature around, and this book does Ring justice. You may enjoy this book if you're interested in the period (America from the teens to the 30s), but it's mostly for those who have read Lardner's fiction and nonfiction and want to know more. I'd recommend you read it alongside the memoir written by his son Ring, Jr: The Lardners: A Family Remembered. Both books are wonderful, entertaining tributes to a great American writer.

Ring Lardner began his career as a sports journalist, writing mostly about BASEBALL. He had his first literary success with stories about a BASEBALL player. There is a good case to be made that BASEBALL events like the Black Sox Scandal greatly affected his world view. So guess what? Any biography of Ring Lardner is going to have a lot of stuff about BASEBALL in it! Kind of like a biography of George Patton might mention the army here and there.Jonathan Yardley sets the stage with a 38 page section about baseball as Lardner knew it. If you're allergic to baseball you can skip this part. The other 362 pages of text mention baseball no more than is necessary to tell Ring's story. Mostly this is an affectionate, critically insightful, well written biography of a vastly influential and still funny American writer who is sadly neglected today. Includes a decent sampling of Ring's newspaper journalism and personal letters.