An Arthur Miller reader

Read up on the playwright's life and work. Get excerpts and essays. Listen to scenes from "The Crucible."

Published February 11, 2005 8:54PM (EST)

When we think of Arthur Miller's life, we remember the grit of Depression-era Brooklyn, N.Y., the rising fear of communism in the '50s, his brief marriage to Marilyn Monroe. When we think of Miller's plays, we imagine witch hunts, the "common man," the shimmer of the American dream. The two aspects of the artist -- the life and the work -- frequently intertwined, and it was when their electrified ends touched and sent sparks flying that Miller became more than a great writer, but also an activist, an important thinker, and a much needed voice of dissent. And although his two best-known works, "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible," date back to 1949 and 1953, respectively, Miller was still causing a stir little more than a year ago with his now infamous Nation essay on Cuba.

Below is a list of Web resources on Miller's life and work. It's by no means exhaustive (there is, it seems, a Web site for every word Miller ever set down on paper), so if we've missed your favorite Miller site, send it to us.

The Arthur Miller Society official Web site, including synopses of Miller's major works and a chronology of his life and work.

Biography
-- From the National Endowment for Humanities. Here you can also find an interview with Miller, an appreciation page, a bibliography and excerpts of his plays.
-- From PBS American Masters

Filmography
-- From IMDB

Excerpts and audio files
-- From Miller's autobiography, "Timebends"
-- Listen to scenes from a radio broadcast of "The Crucible"

Essays
-- "Tragedy and the Common Man", 1949
-- "Why I Wrote 'The Crucible'", the New Yorker, 1996
-- "A Visit With Castro," the Nation, 2003

Interviews and Reviews
-- "Arthur Miller fears for civil rights" -- a post-9/11 BBC News interview, featuring Miller's comments on terrorism
-- Guardian review of the play"Resurrection Blues"
-- The New York Times' archive of stories on Arthur Miller, including original theater reviews, book reviews, articles by Miller, and an audio file of Miller reading from "Echoes Down the Corridor"

Scholarly works on Miller
-- From the preface to "Arthur Miller," Leonard Moss' study of the playwright's "ways of looking"
-- Historian Margo Burns on the historical accuracy of "The Crucible"

Miscellany
-- Arthur Miller quotations
-- Arthur Miller message board


By Salon Staff

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