Jonathan Harr is an American writer, best known for the nonfiction workA Civil Action.
Jonathan Ensor Harr was born 13 September 1948, inBeloit, Wisconsin, the son of John Ensor Harr (1 August 1926–14 November 2004),[1] a U.S. diplomat. Harr lived in France, Germany, Israel, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Harr attended the College of William and Mary, but left in 1968 to serve as a VISTA volunteer in Appalachia. He later attended Marshall University.[2]
Harr lives and works inNorthampton, Massachusetts, where he has taught nonfiction writing atSmith College. In 2008 he was writer-in-residence at theUniversity of Chicago.[3]
He is a former staff writer atNew England Monthly and has written forThe New Yorker andThe New York Times Magazine.[4]
Harr spent approximately seven and a half years researching and writingA Civil Action,[5] which was published in 1995, and subsequently nominated for aNational Book Award, and awarded theNational Book Critics Circle Award.John Travolta andRobert Duvall starred in the film of the same name, andRobert Redford was on the production team. Harr later wroteThe Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece in 2005, which became a best seller.The New York Times named it one of the ten best books of 2005.[6]
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