Charles J. Shields

Charles J. Shields (b. December 2, 1951) is an American biographer, primarily of 20th century American novelists.

Biography

Shields was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on the Delaware river where his father was a reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin and his mother was a housewife. After his father began working in public relations for Ford Motor Company, Shields was raised in Park Forest, Illinois, a community for veterans and their families that was similar to Levittown, an experiment in post-war planning described and critiqued in William H. Whyte’s The Organization Man.^[1] Shields later attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he received degrees in English and American history. He currently lives in Barboursville, Virginia with his wife, Guadalupe, a former Chicago school principal.

Literary Biography

In 1997, Shields left a career in high school teaching and administration to write independently. Over the course of the next six years, he published 20 histories and biographies for young people, including a biography of writer Amy Tan, selected by the New York Public Library as one of the “Best Books for the Teen Age” in 2003.^[2] School Library Journal wrote, “This fine biography of a second-generation American should be read by all immigrant teens and children of immigrants as they sort out how to cope with their parents and come to an understanding of their own bicultural heritage.”^[3] Shields's biography of Martha Stewart for adolescents was reviewed in the Atlantic Monthly by Caitlin Flanagan, who remarked that it was superior to another biography of Ms. Stewart written for adults.^[4]

Shields published his first biography for adults in 2006, and Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee^[5] went on to became a New York Times bestseller. “This biography will not disappoint those who loved the novel and the feisty, independent, fiercely loyal Scout, in whom Harper Lee put so much of herself,” wrote Garrison Keillor in the New York Times Sunday Book Review.^[6] “As readable, convincing, and engrossing as Lee’s literary wonder,” said the Orlando Sentinel.^[7]

Two years later, Shields followed-up his biography of Lee with a young adult version: I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee (Holt), which received awards from American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults; Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year; Arizona Grand Canyon Young Readers Master List.^[8]

In 2009, with fellow biographers Nigel Hamilton, James McGrath Morris, and Debby Applegate, Shields co-founded Biographers International Organization (BIO), a non-profit organization founded to promote the art and craft of biography, and to further the professional interests of its practitioners. As of July 2011, BIO has members in 43 American states and 10 nations, including Australia, India, Kenya, and the Netherlands.

Shields is also associate director of the Great Lives Lecture Series at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia which brings prominent biographers and historians to campus.^[9] In November 2011, Shields published the first biography of Kurt Vonnegut, And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life^[10]

Bibliography

School, Library, and Young Adult Books

•The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, (Chelsea House, 2001)

•William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, (Chelsea House, 2001)

•Annie Oakley, (Chelsea House, 2001)

•John Cabot, (Chelsea House, 2001)

•Captain James Cook, (Chelsea House, 2001)

•Mohandas K. Gandhi, (Chelsea House, 2001

•Martha Stewart: Woman of Achievement, (Chelsea House, 2002)

•The Great Fire and Plague of London, (Chelsea House, 2002)

•Amy Tan: Woman of Achievement, (Chelsea House, 2002)

•J.K Rowling: Who Wrote That? (Chelsea House, 2002)

•Roald Dahl: Who Wrote That? (Chelsea House, 2002)

•George Lucas:Behind the Camera, (Chelsea House, 2002)

•Spike Lee: Behind the Camera, (Chelsea House, 2002)

•Belize, (Mason Crest, 2002)

•Costa Rica, (Mason Crest, 2002)

•El Salvador, (Mason Crest, 2002)

•Guatemala, (Mason Crest, 2002)

•Honduras, (Mason Crest, 2002)

•Nicaragua, (Mason Crest, 2002)

•Panama, (Mason Crest, 2002)

•Vladimir Putin, (Chelsea House, 2003)

•Saddam Hussein, (Chelsea House, 2003)

•Argentina, (Mason Crest, 2003)

•Brazil, (Mason Crest, 2003)

•Chile, (Mason Crest, 2003)

•Peru, (Mason Crest, 2003)

•Uruguay, (Mason Crest, 2003)

•Venezuela, (Mason Crest, 2003)

•I Am Scout: the Biography of Harper Lee, (Henry Holt & Co., 2008)

Trade Books

•Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, (Henry Holt & Co., 2006)

•And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life, (Henry Holt & Co., 2011)

References

1. ^ William H. Whyte, The Organization Man (New York: Doubleday, 1957) 280-395.
2. ^ "Chelsea House Publishers titles selected for the New York Public Library's "Best 2003 Books for the teenage list"". Haightscross.com. 2003-03-27. http://www.haightscross.com/dyncnt/presstxt.cfm?ID=95. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 
3. ^ Diane S. Marton, review, School Library Journal, June 1, 2002.
4. ^ Caitlin Flanagan, “Home Alone,” Atlantic Monthly, September 2002.
5. ^ Brians, Paul. "Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee: Charles J. Shields: Books". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Mockingbird-Portrait-Charles-J-Shields/dp/B001O0EHSQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318448075&sr=1-3. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 
6. ^ “Good Scout,” New York Times, June 11, 2006.
7. ^ Ann Hellmuth, “Walking in Harper Lee’s Shoes,” Orlando Sentinel, June 11, 2006.
8. ^ "I Am Scout | Charles J. Shields | Macmillan". Us.macmillan.com. 2009-12-04. http://us.macmillan.com/iamscout/CharlesShields. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 
9. ^ “UMW Names Best-Selling Author as Associate Director of Great Lives,” University of Mary Washington News and Information, August 31, 2011.
10. ^ Vonnegut, Kurt (2009-09-09). "And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life (9780805086935): Charles J. Shields: Books". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/So-Goes-Kurt-Vonnegut-Life/dp/0805086935/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318448075&sr=1-1. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 

External links

• Biographers International Organization
• “Charles J. Shields— Biographer”
• Great Lives Lecture Series at the University of Mary Washington
• “Writing Kurt Vonnegut: A Biographer’s Notebook”

Persondata
Name	Shields, Charles J.
Alternative names
Short description	Biographer
Date of birth	December 2, 1951
Place of birth	Chester, Pennsylvania
Date of death
Place of death