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Stephen L. Carter Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Stephen L. Carter

Stephen L. Carter

Stephen L. Carter Biography

Stephen L. Carter was born on October 26, 1954 and raised in Ithaca, New York, graduating from Ithaca High School in 1972. He earned a B.A. from Stanford University in 1976 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979. After graduation, Carter clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

He is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University, where he has taught since 1982. He is the author of several acclaimed nonfiction books, including The Culture of Disbelief and Civility; and several novels - His first The Emperor of Ocean Park (2002), and the most recent The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln was published in 2012. He lives with his wife near New Haven, Connecticut. His son, Andrew, was a student at Yale and his daughter, Leah, was at Dartmouth.

Stephen L. Carter's website

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Interview

Stephen L. Carter discusses how he evolved from writing non-fiction to penning his bestselling first book, and what elements of the book are autobiographical.

Q: You have written numerous works of acclaimed non-fiction. What inspired you to write a novel and where did you get the idea for The Emperor of Ocean Park?

A: When I was a child, I dreamed of writing fiction, and I suppose the idea has always been in the back of my mind. In the case of The Emperor of Ocean Park, I would have to say that the characters came to me long before the story did. Most of the major people in the book sprang into my mind, almost fully developed, many years ago. In boxes in my bedroom and my study, I still have dusty, dog-eared drafts of earlier efforts to render the same set of characters in several very different stories.

Some of those early stories were lighter than the one I ended up with, and some were quite a bit more dreary. The characters themselves were up in arms. I'm not sure just when I hit upon the story in its final form. I can say, however, that the characters themselves continued to pester me until I came up with a way for them to present their various tales.

Q: What kinds of research--into the Senate confirmation process, the workings of the FBI, the Federal and Supreme Courts, the political lobbying behind judgeships--inform this novel?

A: Although I wouldn&#...

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Books by this Author

Books by Stephen L. Carter at BookBrowse
The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln jacket Jericho's Fall jacket Palace Council jacket The Emperor of Ocean Park jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Stephen L. Carter but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Lindsey Davis

    Lindsey Davis

    Lindsey Davis was born and raised in Birmingham, read English at Oxford, then joined the civil service. After thirteen years, her first novel (which she'd written for herself) was runner-up for the Georgette Heyer Historical ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Emperor of Ocean Park

    Try:
    The Accusers
    by Lindsey Davis

  • John Lescroart

    John Lescroart

    John Lescroart is the author of twenty-nine novels (his thirtieth, The Missing Piece, will be published by Atria in March of 2022), nineteen of which have been New York Times Bestsellers. Libraries Unlimited has named John ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Emperor of Ocean Park

    Try:
    The Hearing
    by John Lescroart

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