Today the 1940 census was released, opening up the personal details of 132 million people for the first time after 72 years of privacy protection lapses—21 million of those people are still alive. There are a number of ways to access the information in the census, including at the National Archives and this website, and the New York Public Library has also released a search tool. more ›

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where this bar is and what its lousy childhood was like, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap. But we don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores us, and in the second place, J.D. Salinger would probably have two hemorrhages apiece if he was still alive to see this slick new saloon, inexplicably named after Holden Caulfield, one of the most enduring characters in modern American literature. Welcome, phonies! more ›

This practically unreadable letter says: "Dear Mary — Please make sure all the errands are done before you go on vacation, as I do not want to be bothered with insignificant things. Thank you. J.D. Salinger". If the letter does sell for the asking price of $50,000, that means the one sentence will have been written at $2,083/word. According to the Nevada-based company selling the item, the "rare handwritten letter" was to his maid, and written in 1989, which would have put him at about 70 years old at the time. more ›

Following the death of J.D. Salinger, stories about encounters with the author began to surface, putting him back in the public eye he had tried to escape. Notoriously reclusive, these stories of Salinger earlier in life—attending parties, going on dates—are intriguing, and The Paris Review has just published the latest. more ›

Though J.D. Salinger kept his life well-guarded, with his passing some bits of it are now popping up in print. Today the NY Times talks to one Upper East Side woman, now 83 years old, who once went on a blind date with the author. more ›

In what is likely just the first of such discoveries, eleven previously unpublicized letters from J.D. Salinger have been unsealed by The Morgan Library and Museum, and are being prepared for exhibition. The correspondence between the author and Michael Mitchell, the designer of the first cover of The Catcher in the Rye, "reveals an enduring fascination with pop culture and politics that is at odds with the popular mythology of the past half-century of Mr. Salinger as an odd recluse," the Times reports. These revelations reportedly include: more ›

A few years ago we took a look at the Central Park ducks as part of a DIY Holden Caulfield walking tour. Now, following J.D. Salinger's death, CityRoom has created a nice little interactive map if you want to stop by all of the places the author long left behind him when he moved to New Hampshire. (Another photo tour can be found here.) more ›

Notoriously reclusive author J.D. Salinger has died at age 91 in New Hampshire, where he had been living since 1953. The author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative that he died of natural causes at his home in Cornish, where he had isolated himself from most of the world. more ›

Holden Caulfield has been preserved for the time being, as a federal judge ruled that the the unauthorized "sequel" to Catcher in the Rye cannot be published in the United States, at least temporarily. The NY Times reports that Judge Deborah A. Batts "granted a 10-day temporary restraining order forbidding publication in the United States of a new book by a Swedish author that contains a 76-year-old version of Holden Caulfield while she considers arguments in a copyright-infringement case filed by Mr. Salinger." This whole thing would be more interesting if J.D. Salinger were actually showing up in court. During one past lawsuit, some of his personal remarks (from letters he didn't want published) were leaked, including one written in response to his ex-girlfriend Oona O'Neill's marriage to Charlie Chaplin. He wrote, "I can see them at home evenings. Chaplin squatting grey and nude, atop his chiffonier, swinging his thyroid around his head by his bamboo cane, like a dead rat. Oona in an aquamarine gown, applauding madly from the bathroom." Old man still has those writing chops! more ›

The 33-year-old author using the pen name J. D. California, who penned a sequel of sorts to the classic Catcher in the Rye, should have known that J.D. Salinger doesn't take too kindly to phony folk. California's book is described as “An Unauthorized Fictional Examination of the Relationship Between J. D. Salinger and his Most Famous Character,” and prior to its U.S. release it has landed in the courtroom. Unsurprising, since Salinger has even kept the likes of Steven Spielberg from touching his characters. While he hasn't published a new work since 1965, he's done a good job at preserving his old ones (often through lawsuits like this one). more ›

Will the 90-year-old J.D. Salinger be forced to leave his New Hampshire home and return to New York City after leaving in 1953? The reclusive and elusive author filed a lawsuit yesterday in Manhattan federal court. The NY Post reports that the move was to "block an anonymous author from cashing in on the iconic coming-of-age novel with a follow-up titled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye." The book has a character named Mr. C leaving a nursing home to visit many of the places Holden Caulfield did in the 1951 novel Catcher in the Rye. The book is dedicated to Salinger, where he is called: "the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life." The author, who goes by John David California, calls the hermetic legend a "great inspiration." If Salinger wins, all of California's copies of the book will be destroyed, and "he's also seeking unspecified damages from the alleged copycat author, saying his copyright 'is worth an enormous amount of money.'" This isn't the first time he's sued in a copycat case. Aspiring authors: the world doesn't need a sequel to any great classics (Catcher in the Rye 2: Electric Boogaloo just doesn't sound right). more ›