In Irwin Shaw’s enthralling novel, the Jordache family grapples with the forces of change in mid-century America

Siblings Rudy, Tom, and Gretchen Jordache grow up in a small town on the Hudson River. They’re in their teens in the 1940s, too young to go to war but marked by it nevertheless. Their father is the local baker, and nothing suggests they will live storied lives. Yet, in this sprawling saga, each member of the family pushes against the grain of history and confronts the perils and pleasures of a world devastated by conflict and transformed by American commerce and culture.

A memorable novel by one of America’s greatest twentieth-century authors, Rich Man, Poor Man offers a gripping ride through America between the Second World War and Vietnam. It was made into one of the first primetime TV mini-series, and starred Nick Nolte, Peter Strauss, and Susan Blakley.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Irwin Shaw including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

Irwin Shaw (1913–1984) was an acclaimed, award-winning author who grew up in New York City and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1934. His first play, Bury the Dead (1936), has become an anti-war classic. He went on to write several more plays, more than a dozen screenplays, two works of nonfiction, dozens of short stories (for which he won two O. Henry awards), and twelve novels, including THE YOUNG LIONS, which is also available for request via NetGalley.