Perhaps no twentieth-century writer was so observant and graceful a chronicler of his times as Truman Capote. <i>Portraits and Observations </i>is the first volume devoted solely to all the essays ever published by this most beloved of writers. Included are such masterpieces of narrative nonfiction as &#8220;The Muses Are Heard&#8221; and the short nonfiction novel &#8220;Handcarved Coffins,&#8221; as well as many long-out-of-print essays, including portraits of Mae West, Humphrey Bogart, and Marilyn Monroe. From his travel sketches of Brooklyn, New Orleans, and Hollywood, written when he was twenty-two, to the author&#8217;s last written words, composed the day before his death in 1984, the recently discovered &#8220;Remembering Willa Cather,&#8221; <i>Portraits and Observations</i> puts on display the full spectrum of Truman Capote&#8217;s brilliance. Certainly Capote was, as Somerset Maugham famously called him, &#8220;a stylist of the first quality.&#8221; But as the pieces gathered here remind us, he was also an artist of remarkable substance. <br><br><b><u>Praise for <i>Portraits and Observations</i></u></b><br><br>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE <i>WASHINGTON POST</i> BOOK WORLD<br><br>&#8220;A must-have treasure for Capote fans . . . These are delicious, dramatic, and tender nonfiction portraits and tales.&#8221;<br>&#8211;NPR&#8217;s <i>Morning Edition</i><br><br>&#8220;A wonderful volume . . . Nearly every page can be read with real pleasure. . . . No matter what his subject, [Capote&#8217;s] canny, careful art gives it warm and breathing life&#8221; &#160;<br>&#8211;<i>The Washington Post Book World</i><br><br>&#8220;Every piece is a treasure. . . . Pages and pages of remarkably evocative, careful and well-observed prose [delineate,] in a measured and elegant manner, one of the most remarkable American literary lives of the twentieth century.&#8221; <br>&#8211;Jane Smiley, <i>Los Angeles Times Book Review</i>