Robert Olen Butler is an author and professor of English and American literature at Yale University. He is the winner of a National Book Award for Fiction for his novel A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. The novel was named one of the best books of the year by several noted publications, including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and Harper's Magazine. His other novels include Manhattan Beach, Disturbing the Peace, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
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His nonfiction books include Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace; The Civil War: A Narrative; and The Meaning of Race: Origins of an Epidemic. He is also the author of two volumes of cultural criticism: On Second Thought: Essays on Writing; and Creative Recovery: Finding Meaning in Dark Times.