Literary Luminaries of the Berkshires

Book excerpt: The literary history behind this beautiful mountain region. The Massachusetts Berkshires have long been a mecca for literary greats, from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Edith Wharton to Sinclair Lewis and Joan Ackermann. The Green River in Great Barrington inspired William Cullen Bryant’s poetry. Charles Pierce Burton’s childhood hometown, Adams, became the setting for his frolicking Boys of Bob’s Hill children’s books. During an interlude in Lenox, Patricia Highsmith consulted a local undertaker for details to use in The Talented Mr. Ripley. In this book, Bernard A. Drew brings together a fascinating chronicle of some 250 wordsmiths who took inspiration from the hills and valleys of the Berkshires.