The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank became an instant classic when it was published in the 1950s. The book, and the play, movie, and other dramatizations and adaptations have all made such deep impressions that the identity of the young girl who was Anne Frank herself has been obscured.Francine Prose has done a good job of recovering the real Anne Frank. This book is part biography, part literary critique, and part history of the diary and the reactions to it over the years. I was impressed by how much of the real history of Anne Frank had been recovered, and I found the literary critique of her writing interesting as well. I had not realized, though now that I know it seems obvious, that much of Anne's diary, particularly the first few entries, must have been rewritten and edited. Prose reveals that it was Anne herself who did much of the editing work during her last few months in hiding.I was also intrigued by the stories behind the development of the play and movie. Having seen and loved both the movie and the play, it was a bit of a surprise to me to realize, thanks to Prose's analysis, that some of the most famous lines were actually inserted by others, and are not original to Anne herself (though I think a good argument could be made that she would have agreed with them). I was surprised to read of the bitter arguments over whether the diary was too dark or too Jewish (!) to appeal to a general audience. Perhaps the most interesting, if disturbing, section of the book details the disgusting efforts to discredit the diary as a counterfeit.This book adds immensely to our understanding of the gifted young writer who was Anne Frank, and if it tears away some illusions, it makes her in her newly revealed complexities all the more fascinating.