The O Hara Generation

22 stories chosen from John O'Hara's first nine volumes 1935-1966 by Albert Erskine and others.

The definitive biography of short story writer John O’Hara.

Originally published: New York: Grove Press, 1957.

The writer John O'Hara (1905-1970) came from Pottsville in Pennsylvania. He put his home town and the surrounding vicinity under a microscope to produce an account of 'The Anthracite Region' that rivals Edith Wharton's descriptions of New York and Sinclair Lewis's anatomy of Sauk Centre. With the discerning eye of a local resident, O'Hara recreated this coal-rich region and its people so well that his novelettes, novellas, novels, plays and short stories give a true record of his 'Pennsylvania Protectorate' in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. In order to reveal the ethnographical, geographical and historical authenticity of the O'Hara Canon, this book examines his writings in the context of Pottsville and the borough of Tamaqua, as well as the nearby towns and villages. The author also investigates both O'Hara's genteel upbringing and his gangster stratum. The book explores the many dimensions of O'Hara's life from the time of his birth until his escape to New York City in 1928. New sources such as unpublished letters and interviews with O'Hara's family, friends and enemies provide important insights into O'Hara, as well as into Pottsville and the surrounding region.

Fifty years after his first novel, Battle Cry, took the world by storm, Leon Uris returns to the topic that first inspired him to write books that captivate, educate, and thrill -- the Marine Corps. In the years following the Civil War, first-generation Irish-American Zachary O'Hara, son of a legendary Marine and a force of a man in his own right, finds himself playing a critical role in the very future of the Marines. If he can persuade the Secretary of the Navy that the Marines are more crucial than ever to America's safety and security -- all the while hefting a heavier secret weight in his heart -- he'll save the corps and make his career. But there's an obstacle in his path that this warrior had not planned on. Amanda Blanton Kerr, the daughter of a ruthless industrialist, is a woman on a mission of her own; passionate, obstinate, and whip-smart, she's an heiress poised to blaze a trail for her sex. O'Hara's Choice is the story of the inevitable collision of these two handsome, fighting spirits. Getting their souls' desire could jeopardize everything they -- and their parents before them -- scraped and struggled to achieve. Duty to country, love of family, and a tormented passion intertwine in this latest epic by Leon Uris, international bestselling author of such classics as Exodus, Trinity, and Battle Cry. A riveting, sweeping tale in inimitable Uris style, O'Hara's Choice is this master of the historical novel at his most brilliant.