Richard M. Cook

Richard M. Cook is a professor in the English Department of the University of Missouri, St. Louis. He will use his Guggenheim term to prepare an edition of Alfred Kazin’s journals and to work on a book exploring the connection between truth and expectation in journals and autobiographies. His Alfred Kazin: A Biography (Yale UP, 2008) was selected by Choice as a 2008 Outstanding Academic Title and was named as a 2008 Best Book of the Year by the Association of American University Presses. It was also included among the Washington Post’s 2008 Best Book selections.

Mr. Cook, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, has been the recipient of Fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation and the National Endowment of the Humanities. He teaches course in American literature, autobiography, and literary criticism and has published widely on American literature.