Though he died more than forty years ago, James Thurber remains one of America's greatest and most enduring humorists, and his books — for both adults and children — remain as popular as ever. In this comprehensive collection of his letters — the majority of which have never before been published — we find unsuspected insights into his life and career. His prodigious body of work — fables, drawings, comic essays, reportage, short stories, including his famous "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" — all define Thurber's special and prolific genius. Like most good humorists, he was prone to exaggeration, embellishment, and good-natured self-deprecation. In his letters we find startling revelations about who he really was, and why the prism through which he viewed the world could often be both painfully and delightfully distorting. For the first time, Thurber's daughter Rosemary has allowed the publication of many of the extremely personal...