New York Times best-selling author and The New Yorker staff writer, Susan Orlean says of herself, “I am the product of a happy and relatively uneventful childhood in Cleveland, Ohio.” The seeds for Susan’s book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, were planted in her childhood by the Rin Tin Tin figurine on her grandfather’s desk. Years later when she learn that Rin Tin Tin was a real dog with an amazing life, she was drawn to his story.

Rin Tin Tin was found by a young American soldier on a battlefield during World War I as a puppy. The soldier took the puppy home where he was able to draw the attention of Warner Bros. During the following ten years, Rinty starred in twenty-three blockbuster films that saved the studio from bankruptcy. He and his descendants transitioned from silent films to talkies and from radio to television. The story that began on a battlefield developed into an enduring bond between humans and animals. Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend also follows the history of twentieth-century entertainment and entrepreneurship.

Susan Orlean is the author of seven other books including Saturday Night, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award-winning film Adaptation. Susan has been hailed as a “national treasure” by The Washington Post.

Susan Orlean website