Outside Looking In

Adventures of an Observer

"One of the country's most distinguished intellectuals [and] one of its most provocative."
-The New York Times

Look out for a new book from Garry Wills, What the Qur'an Meant, coming fall 2017.


Bookish and retiring, Garry Wills has been an outsider in the academy, in journalism, even in his church. Yet these qualities have, paradoxically, prompted people to share intimate insights with him- perhaps because he is not a rival, a competitor, or a threat. Sometimes this made him the prey of con men like conspiratorialist Mark Lane or civil rights leader James Bevel. At other times it led to close friendship with such people as William F. Buckley, Jr., or singer Beverly Sills. The result is the most personal book Wills has ever written.

With his dazzling style and journalist's eye for detail, Wills brings history to life, whether it's the civil rights movement; the protests against the Vietnam War; the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton; or the set of Oliver Stone's Nixon. Illuminating and provocative, Outside Looking In is a compelling chronicle of an original thinker at work in remarkable times.
"Entirely fascinating." 
--The Washington Times

"Garry Wills is not only one of the country's most distinguished intellectuals but also one of its most provacative."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A completely captivating collection . . . [Wills] writes an intensely opinionated reevaluation of leaders he has encountered, autobiographical reminiscences, and insightful, mostly admiring essays on imporant people in his life."
--Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
Garry Wills is a historian and the author of the New York Times bestsellers What Jesus MeantPapal Sin, and Why Priests?, among others. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and other publications, Wills is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He lives in Evanston, Illinois. View titles by Garry Wills

About

"One of the country's most distinguished intellectuals [and] one of its most provocative."
-The New York Times

Look out for a new book from Garry Wills, What the Qur'an Meant, coming fall 2017.


Bookish and retiring, Garry Wills has been an outsider in the academy, in journalism, even in his church. Yet these qualities have, paradoxically, prompted people to share intimate insights with him- perhaps because he is not a rival, a competitor, or a threat. Sometimes this made him the prey of con men like conspiratorialist Mark Lane or civil rights leader James Bevel. At other times it led to close friendship with such people as William F. Buckley, Jr., or singer Beverly Sills. The result is the most personal book Wills has ever written.

With his dazzling style and journalist's eye for detail, Wills brings history to life, whether it's the civil rights movement; the protests against the Vietnam War; the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton; or the set of Oliver Stone's Nixon. Illuminating and provocative, Outside Looking In is a compelling chronicle of an original thinker at work in remarkable times.

Reviews

"Entirely fascinating." 
--The Washington Times

"Garry Wills is not only one of the country's most distinguished intellectuals but also one of its most provacative."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A completely captivating collection . . . [Wills] writes an intensely opinionated reevaluation of leaders he has encountered, autobiographical reminiscences, and insightful, mostly admiring essays on imporant people in his life."
--Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

Author

Garry Wills is a historian and the author of the New York Times bestsellers What Jesus MeantPapal Sin, and Why Priests?, among others. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and other publications, Wills is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He lives in Evanston, Illinois. View titles by Garry Wills