David Mamet

A Life

Nathan Abrams

This definitive biography of David Mamet offers a fascinating portrait of one of America's most celebrated playwrights.

The profane, prolific, and provocative playwright David Mamet—author of Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), American Buffalo, and Speed-the-Plow—has not received a full-length biography in over twenty years.

David Mamet: A Life fills that gap. This definitive book offers a unique portrait of America's most celebrated playwright, providing comprehensive, in-depth coverage of Mamet’s private, public, and working life.

Mamet is one of those unusual individuals who, in combining their art and politics, has moved from being an artistic liberal figure to one of the few conservatives working in contemporary theater and film today.

Surprisingly, there has been only one biography of Mamet. This book sheds fresh light on him to show that what made him unique as an artist was the close relationship between his ethnicity and religion and his writing. His work became so closely intertwined with his Jewishness and Judaism that they formed the backbone of his existence and thinking.

Revealingly, this immersive biography will explore the ethnicity, religion, and politics of this writer who created some of the twentieth century’s most important works of art.

Nathan Abrams is a professor in film at Bangor University in Wales. He is a founding co-editor of Jewish Film and New Media: An International Journal, as well as the author of The New Jew in Film: Exploring Jewishness and Judaism in Contemporary Cinema, and Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual, and co-author of Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of his Final Film.

Buy it now in print:

Buy it now in ebook:

Endorsements & Reviews

Praise for Nathan Abrams’s Kubrick: An Odyssey:

"The filmmaker emerges from this biography as a contradictory and enigmatic man. Fanlike in their deep respect for his work, the authors describe his perfectionism in relentless detail.” The Wall Street Journal

"In this wide-ranging new biography, Kubrick's life and work are explored through private documents and interviews with his friends and family to help tell the largely unknown story of a man whose work helped define our culture.” Town & Country

"An authoritative portrait of the director. Filled with striking behind-the-scenes stories and elevated by a keen understanding of Kubrick’s style, this is a biography as monumental as its subject.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Kolker and Abrams have broken new ground and achieved what many of us thought was impossible. That of supplying us with absolutely everything one could ever want to know about Stanley Kubrick.” Todd Field

“This thorough, detailed and fascinating biography should be commended for looking into areas of Kubrick’s personal and professional life that have never previously been discussed, as well as offering lucid critical commentary on his films, their themes and his reputation.” The Guardian

"Drawing on access to the Kubrick archive, Kolker and Abrams have unearthed some superb new facts about the director.” The TImes (London)

"An in-depth biography about filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. An admiring look at a fascinating figure. Likely to be the definitive word on Kubrick for years to come.” Library Journal

"This book adds considerably to our knowledge of both the man and his masterpieces. Kubrick left the world his remarkable, enduring films, and this volume pays homage to his considerable legacy. A welcome new biography of a cinematic genius.” Kirkus Reviews