Thomas Mann

German writer, the author of novels, plays and essays. Mann won the Nobel Prize for literature for "Buddenbrooks," based on his family, in 1929. Throughout his career, Mann was respected by critics and popular with the reading public. He had the ability to turn personal biography into literature. His novel, "The Blood of the Walsungs" was based on the lives of his wife's family. Mann was inspired to write by the encouragement of his elder brother, Heinrich, who became a successful novelist in his own right. Mann left Germany during the rise of Nazism and in 1938 moved to the U.S. becoming a naturalized citizen in 1944.