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Arthur Miller: American Witness
A great theater critic brings twentieth-century playwright Arthur Miller’s dramatic story to life with bold and revealing new insights
Distinguished theater critic John Lahr brings unique perspective to the life of Arthur Miller (1915–2005), the playwright who almost single-handedly propelled twentieth-century American theater into a new level of cultural sophistication. Organized around the fault lines of Miller’s life—his family, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, Elia Kazan and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Marilyn Monroe, Vietnam, and the rise and fall of Miller’s role as a public intellectual—this book demonstrates the synergy between Arthur Miller’s psychology and his plays. Concentrating largely on Miller’s most prolific decades of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, Lahr probes Miller’s early playwriting failures; his work writing radio plays during World War II after being rejected for military service; his only novel, Focus; and his succession of award-winning and canonical plays that include All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible, providing an original interpretation of Miller’s work and his personality.
Distinguished theater critic John Lahr brings unique perspective to the life of Arthur Miller (1915–2005), the playwright who almost single-handedly propelled twentieth-century American theater into a new level of cultural sophistication. Organized around the fault lines of Miller’s life—his family, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, Elia Kazan and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Marilyn Monroe, Vietnam, and the rise and fall of Miller’s role as a public intellectual—this book demonstrates the synergy between Arthur Miller’s psychology and his plays. Concentrating largely on Miller’s most prolific decades of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, Lahr probes Miller’s early playwriting failures; his work writing radio plays during World War II after being rejected for military service; his only novel, Focus; and his succession of award-winning and canonical plays that include All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible, providing an original interpretation of Miller’s work and his personality.
263 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2022
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About the author
John Lahr
63 books36 followersJohn Lahr is the senior drama critic of The New Yorker, where he has written about theatre and popular culture since 1992. Among his eighteen books are Notes on a Cowardly Lion: The Biography of Bert Lahr and Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton, which was made into a film.
He has twice won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. Lahr, whose stage adaptations have been performed around the world, received a Tony Award for co-writing Elaine Stritch at Liberty.
He divides his time between London and New York.
He has twice won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. Lahr, whose stage adaptations have been performed around the world, received a Tony Award for co-writing Elaine Stritch at Liberty.
He divides his time between London and New York.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 24, 2022
Excellent insights and sharp, stimulating writing make this book important to anyone interested in American drama or Arthur Miller. Miller’s masterpieces came at the start of his career, and Lahr shows how crucial autobiography was to Miller’s work. Miller’s plays are performed second only to Shakespeare’s worldwide, but in the US he was seen as something of a has-been and was even called “the world’s most over-rated playwright” (John Simon) after the closing of Broken Glass, probably Miller’s best play of the second half of his career. Miller is intriguing to read about though he seemed at times to suffer from rectitudinitis.
July 16, 2023
Lahr is a superior biographer of playwrights . His Orton and Williams books are solid introductions to both men’s lives and works . This Miller biography is below his usual standards . It is marred by factual errors such as stating Monroe’s death was in January 1962 when it was on August 4, 1962 . Such sloppiness undermines confidence in his facts and opinions. Moreover , there is an over reliance on both Miller’s and Kazan’s memoir which seems to color his analysis . However , if you are familiar with Miller’s plays this is still good
January 5, 2023
This is the third book I have read in the Jewish Lives Series from Yale University Press and a wonderful addition it is. Miller was one of Americas premier playwrights. He is known for his plays, ALL MY SONS, DEATH OF A SALESMAN and THE CRUCIBLE among others. Before reading this, I did not know how much of himself and his family he put into his plays. His characters were not carbon copies of the real people, but he used these relationships to inspire his creativity. Miller knew he put some of himself into his characters but at times he didn't recognize how close some of his characters came to resemble himself. One theme of his life, and I have read this about other artists, is that at times, the people in his life became subservient to his need to create. The author, John Lahr, also mentions some of his lesser-known works and some of his failures.
The only criticism I have is that I was surprised he didn't mention the play INCIDENT AT VICHY. It had a short run in 1964 on Broadway but was performed on television in 1973 and revived Off-Broadway in 2009 which my partner and I were very fortunate to see. It takes place in Vichy, France in 1942 in which a group of men are brought into and office for "racial inspection." Though no violence was portrayed in the play it was chilling for the violence was implied. Some of the men would go to the inner office to be "inspected" and never return. It was a remarkable, compelling piece of theater.
Overall, though, I loved Lahr's eloquent writing style for he makes the reader a witness to the creation of some of America's best classic dramas and to some of the events in Arthur Miller's life. (Lahr is the son of the late Bert Lahr who played the Cowardly Lion in the WIZARD OF OZ)
The only criticism I have is that I was surprised he didn't mention the play INCIDENT AT VICHY. It had a short run in 1964 on Broadway but was performed on television in 1973 and revived Off-Broadway in 2009 which my partner and I were very fortunate to see. It takes place in Vichy, France in 1942 in which a group of men are brought into and office for "racial inspection." Though no violence was portrayed in the play it was chilling for the violence was implied. Some of the men would go to the inner office to be "inspected" and never return. It was a remarkable, compelling piece of theater.
Overall, though, I loved Lahr's eloquent writing style for he makes the reader a witness to the creation of some of America's best classic dramas and to some of the events in Arthur Miller's life. (Lahr is the son of the late Bert Lahr who played the Cowardly Lion in the WIZARD OF OZ)
February 11, 2023
Weighing in at about a third the size of the massive, prize-winning biography of Tennessee Williams he published in 2014, John Lahr’s ARTHUR MILLER: AMERICAN WITNESS nonetheless ably covers the critical aspects of Miller’s life that shaped his plays. I should note right off that Lahr devotes more attention to discussing the plays than he does to presenting the personal information for which readers generally turn to biographies.
Lahr does capture the familial, societal and political circumstances behind Miller’s work, including unpublished radio scripts he wrote to make ends meet during his journeyman years in the late 1930s and early 1940s:
“Miller managed occasionally to slip political observations into his radio scripts. ‘Isn’t it time to unlock the kitchen and let women out?’ a character says in TOWARD A FARTHER STAR, a play about Amelia Earhart. In BUFFALO BILL DISREMEMBERED, he provided a neat metaphor for the nation’s chronic historical amnesia about the sins of its imperial past: ‘I can’t remember the truth anymore,’ Buffalo Bill says; ‘They even say there’s a feller who’ really Buffalo Bill and that I ain’t.’ In THUNDER FROM THE MOUNTAINS, a radio play about the Mexican peasant leader Benito Juarez who became the country’s president, Miller managed to include, despite the sponsor’s resistance, the uncomfortable fact that Abraham Lincoln helped to arm the Mexican revolutionaries who seized power.“
Lahr, the son of actor Bert Lahr, also traces Miller’s difficulty contending with the commercialism of the Broadway theater. Had Miller lived longer, It would be interesting to have had his reaction to the trend in recent years, as musicals and revivals more and more dominate Broadway, for the Pulitzer Prize in drama to be awarded to new plays that have not received commercial Broadway, or sometimes even off-Broadway, productions.
Lahr underlines the role of legendary New York Times drama critic Brooks Atkinson in the commercial success Miller finally achieved in 1947 with ALL MY SONS. Other critics dismissed the play, but Atkinson saw its importance. (When Eugene O’Neill’s even more challenging posthumous play LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT opened on Broadway in 1956, it was Atkinson who memorably wrote in The Times that “it restores the drama to literature and the theatre to art.” That looked pretty impressive at the top of a full-page ad.)
The book does not feature an abundance of the juicy tidbits I enjoy coming across in biographies, but it does offer a few:
After the phenomenal success of Miller’s 1949 DEATH OF A SALESMAN, his first wife Mary jokingly suggested that he name his next play, which turned out to be THE CRUCIBLE, DEATH OF A SALEM.
When Miller was subpoenaed to appear before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956, his soon-to-be second wife Marilyn Monroe told her friend the actress Susan Strasberg, “He’s got to tell them to go f___ themselves, only he can do it in better language.”
Lahr does capture the familial, societal and political circumstances behind Miller’s work, including unpublished radio scripts he wrote to make ends meet during his journeyman years in the late 1930s and early 1940s:
“Miller managed occasionally to slip political observations into his radio scripts. ‘Isn’t it time to unlock the kitchen and let women out?’ a character says in TOWARD A FARTHER STAR, a play about Amelia Earhart. In BUFFALO BILL DISREMEMBERED, he provided a neat metaphor for the nation’s chronic historical amnesia about the sins of its imperial past: ‘I can’t remember the truth anymore,’ Buffalo Bill says; ‘They even say there’s a feller who’ really Buffalo Bill and that I ain’t.’ In THUNDER FROM THE MOUNTAINS, a radio play about the Mexican peasant leader Benito Juarez who became the country’s president, Miller managed to include, despite the sponsor’s resistance, the uncomfortable fact that Abraham Lincoln helped to arm the Mexican revolutionaries who seized power.“
Lahr, the son of actor Bert Lahr, also traces Miller’s difficulty contending with the commercialism of the Broadway theater. Had Miller lived longer, It would be interesting to have had his reaction to the trend in recent years, as musicals and revivals more and more dominate Broadway, for the Pulitzer Prize in drama to be awarded to new plays that have not received commercial Broadway, or sometimes even off-Broadway, productions.
Lahr underlines the role of legendary New York Times drama critic Brooks Atkinson in the commercial success Miller finally achieved in 1947 with ALL MY SONS. Other critics dismissed the play, but Atkinson saw its importance. (When Eugene O’Neill’s even more challenging posthumous play LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT opened on Broadway in 1956, it was Atkinson who memorably wrote in The Times that “it restores the drama to literature and the theatre to art.” That looked pretty impressive at the top of a full-page ad.)
The book does not feature an abundance of the juicy tidbits I enjoy coming across in biographies, but it does offer a few:
After the phenomenal success of Miller’s 1949 DEATH OF A SALESMAN, his first wife Mary jokingly suggested that he name his next play, which turned out to be THE CRUCIBLE, DEATH OF A SALEM.
When Miller was subpoenaed to appear before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956, his soon-to-be second wife Marilyn Monroe told her friend the actress Susan Strasberg, “He’s got to tell them to go f___ themselves, only he can do it in better language.”
February 24, 2026
Reading Arthur Miller’s life story just makes you have more respect for the man. He began writing plays in 1941 at the same time as Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, and Lillian Hellman. His most famous commercially successful and critically acclaimed play was Death of a Salesman winning a Tony Award for Best Author, the New York Drama Circle Critics' Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards. The play was performed 742 times and later adapted to television with Dustin Hoffman in the lead role.
Many of Miller’s plays were produced by Elia Kazan until Kazan named names to the House Unamericans Committee and included Arthur Miller as a Communist. Miller said testified to the committee but refused to name names.
Miller’s response to the committee’s investigations was to write The Crucible, which is about the Salem witch hunts as a comparison to the current political hunt for Communists in the entertainment industry. Miller’s career was at a standstill and he switched gears by beginning a five year marriage to Marilyn Monroe which brought lots of media attention. He wrote the role in the film Misfits for Marilyn, but she was deep in her drug addiction and divorced Miller and then died under mysterious circumstances within a year.
Miller is still considered the most creative American playwright, and he based his stories on his personal life. The role model for Willie Lowman was his own father. This book does an excellent job of portraying his strengths and weaknesses, and focusing on his strength of character when opposing systems that were oppressive. He may not have been a Communist, but he certainly represents Jewish values and protection of people’s civil liberties.
Many of Miller’s plays were produced by Elia Kazan until Kazan named names to the House Unamericans Committee and included Arthur Miller as a Communist. Miller said testified to the committee but refused to name names.
Miller’s response to the committee’s investigations was to write The Crucible, which is about the Salem witch hunts as a comparison to the current political hunt for Communists in the entertainment industry. Miller’s career was at a standstill and he switched gears by beginning a five year marriage to Marilyn Monroe which brought lots of media attention. He wrote the role in the film Misfits for Marilyn, but she was deep in her drug addiction and divorced Miller and then died under mysterious circumstances within a year.
Miller is still considered the most creative American playwright, and he based his stories on his personal life. The role model for Willie Lowman was his own father. This book does an excellent job of portraying his strengths and weaknesses, and focusing on his strength of character when opposing systems that were oppressive. He may not have been a Communist, but he certainly represents Jewish values and protection of people’s civil liberties.
April 6, 2023
I was utterly FASCINATED to read this marvelous biography of one of the truly great playwrights. Having access to a great deal of personal material, certainly Miller's own memoirs, and speaking to many people who knew him, John Lahr gives such a deep and real portrait of the forces which shaped the man who would write the plays. Great talent alights in strange ways. Born to a family ruined by the depression, not much of a student, he did not have a clear trajectory. He could have spent his life in any number of low-paid professions and had an undeveloped and unsatisfactory life. Instead, he turned around and became a genius. A bumpy life and a brilliant one!
August 16, 2025
Discover the man behind some of the greatest 20th C plays
....for instance Death of a Salesman and The Crucible.
If you read this book you will discover how so many of Miller's plays are centred around his family dynamics (parents, brother, sister) and his observation of the rise of fascisim and antisemitism in the USA in the 1940s. Everyone saw it....no one wanted to talk about it. In his plays Miller said the unspeakable."
#MustRead literary information
October 2, 2025
Concise and insightful
My favorite of the many (and usually far longer) books on Miller's life and career. Lahr who grew up and spent his life among theater people, brings his unique insight and eloquence to this examination of a great playwrights life and career. A fascinating story beautifully told, and a delightful read. Highly recommended!
My favorite of the many (and usually far longer) books on Miller's life and career. Lahr who grew up and spent his life among theater people, brings his unique insight and eloquence to this examination of a great playwrights life and career. A fascinating story beautifully told, and a delightful read. Highly recommended!
January 5, 2023
There is a lot of good information in this book, but I found Lahr's extensive discussions of Miller's works, particularly his early, obscure works, to be very tedious. Also, much of the book seems to be based on Miller's memoir, "Timebends". Why not just read "Timebends"?
November 30, 2022
I found this book very interesting. If you are interested in theatre, culture, American history, the blacklist etc- so much here.
January 5, 2023
rather short but good
February 18, 2023
Really enjoyed Lahr’s biography of T Williams but found this book lacking. The last part of Millers life is left very brief and vague. I was disappointed in the lack of depth.
May 20, 2023
Well written biography, nicely covers both Miller's works and his personal life (and how the latter informed the former).
July 3, 2023
I felt like this was more of a history of what Miller created rather than a history of what made or influenced Miller. There was as lot of time spent describing plays. It wasn’t what I was looking for.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews