"The best novel about a criminal legend I've ever read."
- Hunter S. Thompson
"A brilliant novel, a truly creative piece of work . . . like any real artist, Kennedy takes what is really a sordid, vulgar reality and turns it into a human tragedy."
- Mario Puzo
Kennedy is a professor in the English department at the State University of New York at Albany. He is the founding director of the New York State Writers Institute and, in 1993, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has received numerous literary awards, including the Literary Lions Award from the New York Public Library, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Governor's Arts Award. Kennedy was also named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France and a member of the board of directors of the New York State Council for the Humanities.