The directory «Plots»
Grisham John
(ðîä. â b. 1955)
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American author, best known for his popular legal thrillers. Before becoming a writer, he was a successful lawyer and politician. As of 2008, his books have sold over 250 million copies worldwide.
John Grisham, the second oldest of five siblings, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Southern Baptist parents of modest means. His father worked as a construction worker and a cotton farmer while his mother was a homemaker. After relocating frequently, the family settled in 1967 in the town of Southaven in DeSoto County, Mississippi, where Grisham graduated from Southaven High School. He played quarterback for the school football team. Encouraged by his mother, the young Grisham was an avid reader who was especially influenced by the work of John Steinbeck, whose clarity he admired.
In 1977, Grisham received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Mississippi State University. He later tried out for the baseball team at Delta State University but was dismissed by the coach, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dave "Boo" Ferriss. Grisham and Ferris have since teamed to host a fundraiser for Delta State Baseball, at which the two discussed how and why Ferris dismissed Grisham, telling him he should "stick to the books" after Grisham failed miserably in his attempts to hit a college level curve ball. Grisham earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. During law school he switched interests from tax law to criminal and general civil litigation and upon graduation he entered a small-town general law practice. For nearly a decade in Southaven, he focused on criminal law and civil law, representing a broad spectrum of clients. As a young attorney he spent much of his time in court proceedings.
In 1983, Grisham was elected as a Democrat to the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he served until 1990. During his time as a legislator, he continued his private law practice in Southaven. He has donated over $100,000 to Democratic Party candidates. In September, 2007, Grisham appeared with Hillary Rodham Clinton, his stated choice for U.S. President in 2008, and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, whom Grisham supported for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Republican John Warner (no relation). Grisham had considered challenging former GOP U.S. Senator George Allen, Jr. in the 2006 Virginia Senatorial Election.
In 1984, at the DeSoto County courthouse in Hernando, Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim. According to Grisham's official website, Grisham used his spare time to begin work on his first novel, which "explored what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants." He "spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, the manuscript was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000-copy printing and published it in June 1989."
The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a young attorney "lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared." That second book, The Firm, became the 7th bestselling novel of 1991. Grisham then produced at least one work a year, nearly all of which became very popular bestsellers. He authored seven number-one bestselling novels of the year (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2005).
Beginning with A Painted House in 2001, the author broadened his focus from law to the more general rural south, while continuing to pen his legal thrillers.
Publishers Weekly declared Grisham "the bestselling novelist of the 90s," selling a total of 60,742,289 copies. He is also one of only a few authors to sell two million copies on a first printing; others include Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling. Grisham's 1992 novel The Pelican Brief sold 11,232,480 copies in the United States alone.
Grisham returned briefly to practice law in 1996 after a five-year hiatus. According to his official website, he "was honoring a commitment he made before he had retired from the law... representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars... Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jury award of $683,500." Another tie to the legal community that he continues to hold is his seat on the Board of Directors for the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating the innocent through DNA testing after they have been convicted.
Guinea, 2008, Tom Cruise in «The Firm»
Guinea, 2008, «Jeremiah Johnson»
