The Man Who Had All the Luck

A new Penguin Plays edition of the forgotten classic that launched the career of one of America’s greatest playwrights

It took more than fifty years for The Man Who Had All the Luck to be appreciated for what it truly is: the first stirrings of a genius that would go on to blossom in such masterpieces as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. This striking new edition finally adds Miller’s first major play to the Penguin Plays series-now in beautifully redesigned covers.

Infused with the moral malaise of the Depression era, this parable-like drama centers on David Beeves, a man before whom every obstacle to personal and professional success seems to crumble with ease. But his good fortune merely serves to reveal the tragedies of those around him in greater relief, offering what David believes to be evidence of a capricious god or, worse, a godless, arbitrary universe. David’s journey toward fulfillment becomes a nightmare of existential doubts, a desperate grasp for reason in a cosmos seemingly devoid of any, and a struggle that will take him to the brink of madness.