- John Berendt
John Berendt (born 1939) is an American
author , known for writing the best-sellingnon-fiction book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ", which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction.Berendt grew up in
Syracuse, New York , where both of his parents were writers. As an English major atHarvard University , he worked on the staff of the "Harvard Lampoon ". He graduated in 1961 and moved toNew York City to pursue a journalism career.Berendt was an associate editor of "Esquire" from 1961 to 1969, editor of "
New York Magazine " from 1977 to 1979 and a columnist for "Esquire" from 1982 to 1994.When he penned "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" in 1994, Berendt became an overnight success. Chronicling the real-life events surrounding a
murder trial inSavannah, Georgia , the book spent a record-breaking 216 weeks on the "New York Times "bestseller list.A movie version directed by
Clint Eastwood appeared in 1997 to mixed reviews. It starredKevin Spacey as Jim Williams, a rich antiques dealer tried for murder,Jude Law as the young hustler shot by Williams, andJohn Cusack as a character loosely based on Berendt.Berendt's most recent book, "
The City of Falling Angels ", chronicling interwoven lives inVenice in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed theLa Fenice opera house, was published in September 2005. According to [http://www.kirkusreviews.com/ Kirkus Reviews] (1 August ,2005 ), "Berendt does great justice to an exalted city that has rightly fascinated the likes ofHenry James ,Robert Browning and many filmmakers throughout the world."
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