Thomas Larson is the author of The Saddest Music Ever Written: The Story of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” coming in September from Pegasus Books. His book The Memoir and the Memoirist (Swallow Press) is in its third printing. He is also a journalist for San Diego Reader, as well as a critic, essayist, and memoirist. (updated 6/2010)