J. D. Salinger Bio Planned

A new biography of J. D. Salinger, written by David Shields and Shane Salerno, will be published in September, according to Simon & Schuster. The book, titled The Private War of J. D. Salinger is described as "an oral biography." Shields and Salerno have been working on the book for eight years, and conducted interviews with more than 150 people who knew Salinger, one of the most reclusive authors in history. "Many of us who read The Catcher in the Rye have, at some point in our lives, wished we could know the author better," the publisher Jonathan Karp said. "Now, we finally can." "The myth that people have read about and believed for 60 years about J. D. Salinger is one of someone too pure to publish, too sensitive to be touched," said Salerno, a screenwriter for films like Savages. "We replace the myth of Salinger with an extraordinarily complex, deeply contradictory human being." Salerno's documentary on Salinger, who died in 2010, will air as the 200th episode of the PBS series "American Masters."