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Portrait of Thomas Mallon

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Thomas Mallon

Novelist and Essayist

Thomas Mallon writes historical novels populated by real people, taking on the Nixon White House in Watergate, the Reagan years in Finale, and the Lincoln assassination in Henry and Clara. He was literary editor of GQ, has written for The New Yorker for decades, and directed the creative writing programme at George Washington University. His picks here are all from the 1980s and 90s, which he treats as an underrated stretch rather than a nostalgic one.

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6 books · Updated August 2026 As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
01 Cover of Remembering Denny by Calvin Trillin

Remembering Denny

by Calvin Trillin · 1993 · Memoir

“Trillin was also a member of that class, and Remembering Denny is his meditative investigation of the depressed life that led Hansen to suicide in 1991.” — via Article
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02

A Different Person

A Memoir

by James Merrill · 1993 · Memoir

“This memoir chronicles the poet's mid-20s in the early 1950s. A child of wealth, he recalls his true and false starts in romance , psychotherapy, and literature, in a narrative that wanders Europe.” — via Article
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03 Cover of Providence by Geoffrey Wolff

Providence

by Geoffrey Wolff · 1986 · Fiction

“The novel is lively and propulsive, but you'll remember it for its exactitude and social texture.” — via Article
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04 Cover of Rain or Shine by Cyra McFadden

Rain or Shine

A Family Memoir

by Cyra McFadden · 1986 · Memoir

“This reminiscence of an itinerant childhood in the American West, by the daughter of a rodeo announcer and onetime vaudeville dancer, manages to be both wistful and clear-eyed.” — via Article
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05 Cover of Mustang Sally by Edward Allen

Mustang Sally

by Edward Allen · 1992 · Fiction

“Its English-professor hero, a schlubby American Lucky Jim, runs afoul of policed language, smug groupthink, and what was only starting to be called political correctness.” — via Article
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06 Cover of Home Ground by Lynn Freed

Home Ground

by Lynn Freed · 1986 · Fiction

“Freed, who died in May, was the greatest South African writer of her generation, and Home Ground is her most autobiographical novel. Her characters were always amazingly alive as individuals, and not mere political abstractions.” — via Article
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