G. Thomas Couser is professor emeritus of English at Hofstra University and author of six previous books, including Memoir: An Introduction, published by Oxford UP in 2012.

It may be unfair that an accomplished scholar who has written some of the most significant investigations of the power inequities and ethics of life writing (Recovering Bodies, Vulnerable Subjects, Signifying Bodies), as well as an introduction to the genre as skilled as his On Memoir, should also be capable of writing authoritative, complex life writing itself. But G. Thomas Couser has done just that with Letter to My Father: A Memoir.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgmentsPrologue: In My Father’s Closet: Life, Death, and LettersPart One: The Father I (Thought I) Knew1. After the War: Manchester, New Hampshire 1947-19542. Suburban Life: Melrose 1954-19683. The Empty Nest: 1964 to 19734. McLean Patient, 19735. Widower: 1973-19756. Endnotes: A Life in Scraps, 1974-75Part Two: Part Two: The Father I Never Knew (But Now Know)7. Mill Town Lad: 1906-19308. “In Aleppo Once”: Syria 1930-339. First Love: Rody10. Illicit Love: Lena11. Manly Love: Bob and the YMCA12. Edgar: “To you, I shall return a Prodigal”13. George Saylor: Gay Blade14. Marriage, War, and FamilyEpilogue: Grief Interrupted