Harvard Professor Daniel Aaron spent 10 years editing the diary of Bostonian Arthur Inman. He read every one of 155 volumes, all of the 17 million words, absorbing what is probably the longest diary ever written. And at the end of the ordeal, Professor Aaron considered the author disgusting -– and fascinating.

Tonight, Mary Richardson explores the bizarre story behind one of the world’s strangest books.

Show Resources:

From a Darkened Room: The Inman Diary
(abridged)
by Arthur Crew Inman, Daniel Aaron (Editor)
Paperback, Oct. 1996
Available from Amazon.com:
Buy new: $17.95; Used & new from $6.45
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Inman Diary: A Public and Private Confession
by Arthur Crew Inman, Daniel Aaron (Editor)
Hardcover, Sept. 1985
Available from Amazon.com:
Buy new: $72.00; Used & new from $3.10
Usually ships in 24 hours

Diary Editor: Professor Daniel Aaron
Harvard University