Arthur Miller Books

Book by Amnesty International

"In this collected works, five of Arthur Miller's most-produced and popular plays are brought together in a new edition, alongside an exclusive introduction by Ivo van Hove, the celebrated contemporary director of Miller's works. All five plays were written by Miller within a ten-year period which began with his first Broadway hit, All My Sons, in 1947 which led Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times to state that 'theatre has acquired a genuine new talent.' This was followed in 1949 by his exploration of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman, which went on to win the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Crucible followed in 1953, produced during the McCarthy era and becoming a parable of the witch-hunting practices of a government determined to root-out Communists. A View from the Bridge, originally performed in 1955, concerns the lives of longshoremen in the Brooklyn waterfront and has remained one of Miller's most produced plays. Originally presented as a one-act companion piece to A Memory of Two Mondays, both plays explore the dreams and working lives of ordinary Americans in the early decades of the 20th century. Freshly edited and featuring a bold new design, this updated edition of Arthur Miller Plays 1 is a must-have for theatre fans and students alike."--Back cover

In a building slated for imminent demolition, two brothers, long estranged, reunite to sell off their family's possessions. In short time the transaction draws in one man's wife and an ancient but still wily furniture dealer. And a crowded attic becomes the setting for an acrid, funny, and moving inquest into the wounds of family, the allure of the disposable, and the nature of human failure.

This book documents the making of the legendary film The Misfits (1961). Directed by the Hollywood auteur John Huston, it starred three of the most charismatic actors of all time - Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift. Its script was composed by Arthur Miller, one of America's greatest playwrights and Marilyn's husband. As part of the promotional strategy for the film, the Magnum photographic agency was given exclusive access to the shoot. Nine of its most famous photographers - including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold and Elliott Erwitt - covered the production, both on and off the set. 200 of their pictures are reproduced in rich duotone, providing both a fascinating documentary of the making of a film and an intimate portrait of its stars. The photographs are paralleled with an essay by the Editor-in-Chief of the established film magazine Cahiers du cinéma , Serge Toubiana, in which he recounts the tragic and triumphant story of the film that was to become Monroe and Gable's swansong. The book also contains a revealing interview between Toubiana and Arthur Miller, in which Miller discusses the making of the film, the troubled relationships between the stars (including his own with Monroe) and the fascinating background to the photographs.

Set against the backdrop of the 1970s, the narrative explores the activism of Rabbi Meir Kahane and the Jewish Defense League as they confront Soviet officials to advocate for the rights of Soviet Jews. Their aggressive tactics aim to spotlight the struggle for freedom and human rights, reflecting the intense political climate of the era. The book delves into themes of activism, identity, and the complexities of Jewish life under oppression.

"The greatest American dramatist of our age" Evening Standard This fifth volume of Arthur Miller's work contains two plays from the early nineties: his highly acclaimed The Last Yankee (1993), which the Guardian called "a fine and moving play . . . Like all Miller's best work, it effortlessly links private and public worlds by connecting personal desperation to insane American values"; and The Ride Down Mount Morgan (1991), which explores themes of bigamy and betrayal, described as "searching, scorching, harsh but compassionate" (Sunday Times). Also contained in the volume is Almost Everybody Wins, the original version of the screenplay Arthur Miller wrote for Karel Reisz's film, "Everybody Wins".

"R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) (Czech: "Rossumovi univerzalni roboti") is a science fiction play originally written in the Czech language. It premiered in 1921 and is noted for introducing the term "robot" to the English language. The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called "robots." Unlike the modern usage of the term, these creatures are closer to the modern idea of androids or even clones, as they can be mistaken for humans and can think for themselves. They seem happy to work for humans, although that changes and a hostile robot rebellion leads to the extinction of the human race. After finishing the manuscript, The author realized that he had created a modern version of the Jewish Golem legend. He later took a different approach to the same theme in War with the Newts, in which non-humans become a servant class in human society. R.U.R is dark but not without hope and was successful in its day in both Europe and the United States. Translation by David Wyllie."

Written in 1945, Focus was Arthur Miller's first novel and one of the first books to directly confront American anti-Semitism. It remains as chilling and incisive today as it was at the time of its controversial debut. As World War II draws to a close, anti-Semitism is alive and well in Brooklyn, New York. Here, Newman, an American of English descent, floats through a world of multiethnic neighborhoods indifferent to the racism around him. That is, until he begins wearing glasses that render him "Jewish" in the eyes of others, making him the target of anti-Semitic persecution. As he and his wife find friendship and support from a Jewish immigrant, Newman slowly begins to understand the racial hatreds that surround him. "A strong, sincere book bursting with indignation." (The New York Times Book Review)

The only children's book penned by playwright Arthur Miller, Jane's Blanket intelligently and iconically details a touching truth of childhood. The first reprint since its 1963 release makes Arthur Miller's enduring message available to a new generation.