Arthur Miller's plays have held the world's stages for almost half a century. Among them are Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, and others, including the recent Broken Glass, which won England's 1995 Olivier Award for Best Play. His memoir, Timebends, shows that the life of the man is as compelling as his plays.

With passion, wit, and candor, Miller recalls his childhood in Harlem and Brooklyn in the 1920s and the Depression; his successes and failures in the theater and in Hollywood; the formation of his political beliefs that, two decades later, brought him into confrontation with the House Committee on Un-American Activities; and his later work on behalf of human rights as the president of PEN International. He writes with astonishing perception and tenderness of Marilyn Monroe, his second wife, as well as the host of famous and infamous that have intersected with his adventurous life.

Timebends is Miller's love letter to this century: its energy, its humor, its chaos and moral struggles.