Hellman was a writer whose plays spoke the language of morality yet whose achievements foundered on accusations of mendacity. Above all else, she was a woman who made her way in a man's world. Kessler-Harris has crafted a nuanced life of Hellman, empathetic yet unsparing, that situates her in the varied contexts in which she moved, from New Orleans to Broadway to the hearing room of HUAC.
Chapter 1. Old-Fashioned American Traditions
Chapter 3. A Serious Playwright
Chapter 4. Politics Without Fear
Chapter 6. The Writer as Moralist
Chapter 9. The Most Dangerous Hours