In the tradition of Quirk's bestselling <em>Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents</em> (100,000+ copies in print), here are outrageous and uncensored profiles of the world's greatest writers, complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright bizarre facts. Consider: <br><br> Edgar Allan Poe was kicked out of West Point Military Academy. <br> Louisa May Alcott was addicted to opium. <br> W. B. Yeats paid surgeons to transplant monkey glands into his scrotum. <br> J. R. R. Tolkien slept in his bathroom. <br> Kurt Vonnegut managed a Saab dealership before hitting the big time. <br><br>With chapters on everyone from William Shakespeare to Thomas Pynchon, <em>Secret Lives of Great Authors</em> tackles all the tough questions your teachers were afraid to answer: What's the deal with Lewis Carroll and little girls? Is it true that J. D. Salinger drank his own urine? Why was Ayn Rand such a big fan of <em>Charlie's Angels</em>? The classics were never this much fun in school!