Tracy Kidder

Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945, in New York City) is an American author and Vietnam War veteran. Kidder may be best known, especially within the computing community, for his Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Soul of a New Machine", an account of the development of Data General's Eclipse/MV minicomputer. The book typifies his distinctive style of research. He began following the project at its inception and, in addition to interviews, spent considerable time observing the engineers at work and outside of it. Using this perspective he was able to produce a more textured portrait of the development process than a purely retrospective study might.

Kidder followed up with "House", in which he chronicles the design and construction of the award-winning Souweine House in Amherst, Massachusetts. "House" reads like a novel, but it is based on many hours of research with the architect, builders, clients, in-laws, and other interested parties.

In 2003, Kidder also published "" after a chance encounter with Paul Farmer led him to do extensive research on Farmer's life and work on alleviating poverty and disease worldwide. The book received wide critical acclaim and became a "New York Times" bestseller. Actor and social activist Edward Norton has said the book had a profound influence on him. [http://www.iowalum.com/pulitzerPrize/kidder.html] It is now widely assigned as required reading for incoming freshman at various colleges and universities.

Bibliography

*Tracy Kidder, "The Road to Yuba City: A Journey into the Juan Corona Murders", Doubleday, 1974, ISBN 0-385-02865-3
*Tracy Kidder, "The Soul of a New Machine", Back Bay Books, 1981, ISBN 0-316-49197-7
*Tracy Kidder, "House", Hougton Mifflin Co., 1985, ISBN 0-618-00191-3
*Tracy Kidder, "Among Schoolchildren", Avon Books, 1989, ISBN 0-380-71089-7
*Tracy Kidder, "Old Friends", Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994, ISBN 5-554-72949-5
*Tracy Kidder, "Home Town", Random House, 1999, ISBN 0-671-78521-4
*Tracy Kidder, "Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World", Random House, 2003 hardcover: ISBN 0-375-50616-0, 2004 paperback: ISBN 0-8129-7301-1
*Tracy Kidder, "My Detachment: a Memoir", Random House, 2005, ISBN 0-375-50615-2 (a Vietnam War memoir)

External links

* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-klempner/a-conversation-with-tracy_b_91799.html/ A Conversation with Tracy Kidder about "Mountains Beyond Mountains"] by Mark Klempner, 2008.
* [http://wiredforbooks.org/tracykidder/ 1985 audio interview of Tracy Kidder at Wired for Books.org] by Don Swaim
* [http://www.lettre-ulysses-award.org/authors04/kidder.html Biographical notes from the Lettre Ulysses Award 2004]