{"product_id":"2026770001730-secondhand-dashiell-hammett-a-life","title":"Dashiell Hammett: A Life","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA masterfully researched biography, Dashiell Hammett: A Life chronicles the turbulent and fascinating existence of one of America's most celebrated crime writers, the creator of Sam Spade and the Continental Op. Diane Johnson traces Hammett's remarkable journey from his early days as a Pinkerton detective — work that would directly inform the gritty realism of his fiction — to his ascent as the defining voice of hard-boiled American noir. The biography presents an unflinching portrait of a man whose personal life was as dramatic as his fiction, marked by illness, alcoholism, a long and complex relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman, and his principled stand against McCarthyism that led to his imprisonment. Johnson argues with authority and elegance that Hammett's influence on American literature and culture extends far beyond the pages of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, cementing his place alongside Hemingway as a giant of 20th-century prose.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48956460237019,"sku":"2026770001730-SECONDHAND","price":12.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/9d3d4409-83ca-4705-a3b4-d5f271839592.png?v=1783501220","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026770001730-secondhand-dashiell-hammett-a-life","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}