The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is a book by Gertrude Stein written in the guise of an autobiography authored by Alice B. Toklas. Alice was an Americanborn member of the Parisian avantgarde of the early 20th century and the life partner Gertrude Stein. The book starts with Alices days in San Francisco before she moved to France then describes her moving to Paris meeting Gertrude and starting their life together. The book had mixed reception both among critics and Steins friends but the success of it was great. Today it is ranked it as one of the 20 greatest Englishlanguage nonfiction books of the 20th century. Gertrude Stein 18741946 was an American novelist poet playwright and art collector best known for Three Lives The Making of Americans and Tender Buttons. Stein moved to Paris in 1903 and made France her home for the remainder of her life. Picasso and Cubism were an important influence on Steins writing. Her works are compared to James Joyces Ulysses and to Marcel Prousts In Search of Lost Time.