#24 in Drama & theatre
Death of a Salesman
- 139
- Pages
- about 2.5 h
- Reading time
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama
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Our view
“Death of a Salesman” is a short, merciless play about a man who cannot face the truth of his own life. The struggle between Willy Loman and Biff is its emotional centre and still moves readers deeply. On the page it demands attention, since memories, dreams and present-day arguments run into one another, and some find it hard going. Bleak yet compassionate, it gives most to those who can picture it staged.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 stage play written by the American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway on February 10, 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy—the subtitle of the play is "Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem"—set in late 1940s Brooklyn and told through a montage of memories, dreams, and arguments of the protagonist Willy Loman, a traveling salesman who is despondent with his life and appears to be slipping into senility. The play addresses a variety of themes, such as the American Dream, the anatomy of truth, and infidelity. It won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Since its premiere, the play has been revived on Broadway five times, winning a to-this-day unprecedented four Tony Awards for Best Revival. It has been adapted for the cinema ten times. In 1999, New Yorker drama critic John Lahr said that with 11 million copies sold, it was "probably the most successful modern play ever published."
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.2 across 565 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 79% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Drama & theatre average of 7.6. That is how 7.4 comes out. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.8 | 70 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 7.1 | 495 | 88% |
Frequently asked
How long is Death of a Salesman?
It has 139 pages — shorter than 55% of the ranked books in Drama & theatre.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Drama & theatre — with scores between 7.1 and 7.7, closest to this book.
