Bellow's essay, “In the Days of Mr. Roosevelt,” was initially penned for Esquire magazine and offers a non-fiction portrayal of life in Chicago during the Great Depression. This piece is also included in It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future, a collection of his essays released the same year as this story.

Bellow also contributed the afterword for a 1942 edition of Con Man, which is the autobiography of the famed Chicago con artist J. R. “The Yellow Kid” Weil.

Philip Roth, a renowned American novelist, expressed his admiration for Bellow's extensive career in “Rereading Saul Bellow.” This piece is part of Roth’s collection Shop Talk: A Writer and His Colleagues and Their Work, published in 2001.

Harriet Wasserman’s memoir of Bellow, Handsome Is (1997), stands apart from most literary biographies by offering deeply personal and intimate insights about him and his life. As Bellow’s friend and literary agent, Wasserman provides readers with a closer look at his world.