A stunning biography of the magisterial author behindThe Portrait of a LadyandThe AmbassadorsHenry James is an absorbing portrait of one of the most complex and influential nineteenth-century American writers. Fred Kaplan examines James's brilliant and troubled familyfrom his brother, a famous psychologist, to his sister, who fought with mental illnessand charts its influence on the development of the artist and his work. The biography includes a fascinating account of James's life as an American expatriate in Europe, and his friendships with Edith Wharton and Joseph Conrad. Compressing a wealth of research into one engrossing and richly detailed volume, Henry James is a compelling exploration of its subject.