The riveting, revelatory, and sole authorized account of the critical first decades of Tennessee Williams's life.

Tennessee Williams, author of such indelible masterpieces as The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, is considered by many to be the greatest literary artist of the American theater. Tom is Lyle Leverich's definitive account based on his exclusive access to letters, diaries, unpublished manuscripts, and family documents of Williams's early life and of the events that shaped this most autobiographical of dramatists. It tells the story of the marital traumas of his bullying father and overly protective mother, the mental disorders that institutionalized his beloved sister Rose, his stalled academic career, and his confused sexuality and early successes as a writer; and it leaves Thomas Lanier Williams on the brink of fame with The Glass Menagerie and his transformation into the celebrated persona of "Tennessee."

"A huge accomplishment. Lyle Leverich's Tom is thorough and passionate, an astonishing tale."--John Lahr, The New Yorker

"The kind of work Williams has long deserved. It is finely written, thoroughly researched and lavishly documented." --front cover, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Lyle Leverich is a theatrical producer whose association with Tennessee Williams began in 1976 when he met the playwright to plan a production of two of his plays. In 1979 Williams selected Leverich to be his authorized biographer.