Louis Stanton Auchincloss (born September 27, 1917) is a prolific American novelist, historian, and essayist. Born in New York City, he grew up in the privileged classes about whom he would write, attending St. Bernard's School, The Groton School, and Yale University, where he was editor of the Yale Literary Magazine, and a member of Scroll and Key Society. After serving in the Navy in World War II, Auchincloss wondered whether to become a writer or a lawyer; finally, he realised both (despite not completing undergraduate studies at Yale, he was admitted to and attended law school of the University of Virginia), writing a novel per year whilst working as a wills and trusts attorney with Hawkins, Delafield & Wood.
Among Auchincloss's best-known books are the multi-generational sagas The House of Five Talents; Portrait in Brownstone, and East Side Story; The Rector of Justin, the tale of the beloved headmaster of a school like Groton trying to deal with changing times; and The Embezzler, a look at white-collar crime. Auchincloss has patterned his writing after that of Henry James and Edith Wharton.
Auchincloss was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1965. He received the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

Selected works

The Indifferent Children (1947)
Sybil (1952)
A Law for the Lion (1953)
The Great World and Timothy Colt (1956)
Venus in Sparta (1958)
Pursuit of the Prodigal (1959)
The House of Five Talents (1960)
Portrait in Brownstone (1962)
The Rector of Justin (1964)
The Embezzler (1966)
A World of Profit (1968)
I Come as a Thief (1972)
The Dark Lady (1977)
The Country Cousin (1978)
The House of the Prophet (1980)
The Cat and the King (1981)
Watchfires (1982)
Exit Lady Masham (1983)
The Book Class (1984)
Honourable Men (1986)
Diary of a Yuppie (1987)
The Golden Calves (1988)
Fellow Passengers: A Novel in Portraits (1989)
The Lady of Situations (1990)
Three Lives (1993)
The Education of Oscar Fairfax (1995)
Her Infinite Variety (2000)
The Scarlet Letters (2003)
East Side Story (2004)
The Headmaster's Dilemma (2007)