Alexander, Paul, Salinger: A Biography, Renaissance Books, 1999.

This recent biography is based on newly released material from the Salinger archives; in it, Alexander explores the reasons for Salinger's withdrawal from the public eye and whether it was based on a sincere desire for privacy or an attempt to generate publicity.

Hamilton, Ian, In Search of J. D. Salinger, Random House, 1988.

Hamilton's controversial book is partly a biography and partly the story of Hamilton writing the biography: at the last minute, Salinger's lawyers challenged Random House's right to print Hamilton's book and eventually argued their case in federal court.

Kotzen, Kip, and Thomas Beller, eds., With Love and Squalor: 14 Writers Respond to the Work of J. D. Salinger, Broadway Books, 2001.

This is a collection of essays in which contemporary authors offer their opinions of Salinger's work and reminisce about what his work has meant to them as...