Biography

Bibliography: A True Confession

Joe Woodward | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hollywood, Nathanael West, Writing, Biography, Screenwriting, Ticket to Paradise, Romantic Comedy, Books, Books News

I have a book festish for the back matter of biographies and histories. I toggle between "selected" and "annotated," and back again. I even test the dreaded "further reading," but it just seemed too pushy.

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Lover Man: The Samuel Steward Story

Brooks Peters | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gay, Porn, Biography, Tattoo, Erotica, Literature, Books News

Like the groundbreaking book Gay New York by George Chauncey, Secret Historian reveals a vital subterranean culture, thriving throughout the early part of the 20th century.

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Two Important Shows at Intuit, Transvestite Fights, and Fantasies of Outsider Art

Monica Westin | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Art, Drag, Outsider Art, Biography, Chicago, Intuit, Takashi Murakami, Almost There, Life Lines, Damien Hirst, Charles Steffen, Chicago News

After the first of two important outsider art openings at Intuit this summer, I had a revelation about the field while witnessing a fight between transvestites on the train home.

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Angelina Jolie: New Details From Biography Due In August

US Weekly | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Angelina Jolie, Bestsellers, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Angelina, Monica Lewinsky, Andrew Morton, Biography, Books News

Angelina Jolie recently revealed she "never had any trouble" with her peers -- but that could change when Angelina: An Authorized Biography hits shelv...

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Ann Waldron Dead: Ann Waldron, Biographer Of Southern Writers, Dies At 85

The New York Times | Dennis Hevesi | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Authors, Murder Mystery, Eudora Welty, Books, Princeton University, Ann Waldron, Reading, Biography, Ann Waldron Dead, Books News

Ann Waldron, who wrote biographies of Southern writers and books for children and young adults, but then -- at 78 -- decided that she'd rather concoct...

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Martin Amis And Agent Andrew Wylie Force Cancellation Of Biography

The Australian | Richard Brooks | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Andrew Wylie, Amis, Julian Barnes, The Jackal, Biograher, Christopher Hitchens, Martin Amis, Literary Prizes, Richard Bradford, Peter Owen, Biography, Books News

MARTIN Amis has bared his teeth and chewed up a book that threatened to intrude on certain aspects of his private life. Small independent publisher...

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David Remnick: The "Race" Route over Obama's "Bridge" (AUDIO)

Christopher Lydon | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Empire, Politics, Barack Obama, Civil Rights, The New Yorker, David Remnick, Christopher Lydon, Race, Brown University, Biography, Books News

David Remnick is hanging out and indulging me here, late on a book-tour evening, in a little polite rattling of the racial premise of his Obama story,...

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George Washington -- the Teflon Founding Father?

John Ferling | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Authors, American Revolution, Teflon Politician, Thomas Paine, George Washington, Books, Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Reading, Biography, Independence Day, Fourth of July, Books News

As a historian of the American Revolution, I have learned that to write about the Founders is guaranteed to get a lively response from general readers; to criticize them can be asking for trouble.

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The Kids' Table at Leo's

Dorothy Spears | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Annie Cohen-Solal, Art Dealer, Contemporary Art, Leo Castelli, Biography, Kathleen Turner, Body Heat, Claude Berri, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Jasper Johns, Ileana Sonnabend, David Salle, Sandra Bernhard, Larry Gagosian, Arts News

I first heard about Leo & His Circle, Annie Cohen-Solal's ambitious, but bizarrely unfocused, biography of the art dealer Leo Castelli, two summers ago, when I was sipping Campari with Leo's son.

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Mariage Blanc

Brooks Peters | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Decorating, Celebrity, Interior Design, Style, Biography, Style News

Less known than her husband, author W. Somerset Maugham, the decorator Syrie Maugham is nevertheless a legendary figure in the worlds of high style. Now, a new biography of Somerset reveals the strange ties that bound him to his wife.

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'The Rebbe': New Book On Life Of Jewish Leader Rabbi Schneersohn Disturbs Followers

The New York Times | PATRICIA COHEN | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hasidic Jews, Biography, Books, Rabbi, Rabbi Schneerson, The Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Judaism, Books News

Over the course of his more than 40 years as grand rebbe, he transformed this tiny Hasidic sect, with its headquarters in Brooklyn, into an influentia...

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Are Comic Book Biographies Worthwhile?

Christian Science Monitor | Albert Ching | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Michelle Obama, Comics, Comic Books, Biography, Hillary Clinton, Taylor Lautner, Books, Lady GaGa, Comic Book Biographies, Books News

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, international pop star Lady Gaga and "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner aren't typical comic book protagonists, bu...

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Obama Biography 'The Bridge' Is 'Flawless,' Says LA Times

The Los Angeles Times | Douglas Brinkley | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: The Bridge David Remnick, Biography, The Bridge, Books, Obama the Bridge, Obama Biography, Barack Obama Biography, Barack Obama, David Remnick, Books News

"The Bridge" is a towering monument to Obama's hyper-professionalism when it comes to the art of politics. The president is an unflappable Zen master ...

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Sophia Tolstoy: Not the Woman You Thought She Was

Alexandra Popoff | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Biography, Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoy, Sophia Tolstoy, Books, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Books News

Sophia's life has been long misinterpreted, so my goal was to provide accurate information and tell her true story.

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Why Believe Kapuscinski's Biographer?

Patrick Galey | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Ethics in Journalism, News, Kapuscinski, Journalism, Fiction, Biography, Ryszard Kapuscinski, Media News

Towards the end of The Other, Ryszard Kapuściński credits Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish social anthropologist, with the contestable maxim: "To judg...

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The Steve Jobs Biography: What Story Will Be Told?

Michael Wolff | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Steve Jobs, Michael Wolff, Biography, Walter Isaacson, Media News

I wonder how Steve Jobs and Walter Isaacson, his chosen biographer, will get on? Jobs is authoritarian, belligerent, secretive, vindictive--and origi...

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Terry Teachout's Pops: Culture-Changing Genius

Christopher Lydon | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Radio Open Source, Jazz Biography, Jazz, Louis Armstrong, Radio, Terry Teachout, Christopher Lydon, Music, Brown University, Biography, Books News

Terry Teachout's fine reconsideration of the man called "Pops" solidifies Louis Armstrong's standing as not just the greatest horn player since the angel Gabriel, but an all-transforming artist at the level of James Joyce or even Shakespeare.

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STRIP & REBIND: Why Publicists Love the Word "No"

Cassie Ammerman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Publishing, Book Reviews, Publicists, Publicity, Writing, Book Publishing, Blogs, Authors, Book Publicity, Biography, Books, Book Publicists, Newspapers, Books News

There is a word that publicists love almost as much as "yes." And it's "no." Seems counterintuitive, right? But it's true. There is little I love more than a solid "no."

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Robin Kelley's Transcendental Thelonious Monk

Christopher Lydon | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Jazz, Thelonious Monk Biography, Biography, Thelonious Monk, Books News

There's a vastly detailed, fresh take here on an immortal jazz pianist and composer whose life is often remembered as freakish, at best impossibly mysterious.

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Angelina Jolie Slept With Mother's Boyfriend At 16, Says New Book

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Celebrity Gossip, Books, New Books, Celebrity Biography, Andrew Morton, Celebrities, Biography, Angelina Jolie Biography, Angelina Jolie, Angelina Jolie Mother, Books News

UPDATED On Tuesday, The New York Daily News reported that a new book by controversial biographer Andrew Morton revealed that Angelina Jolie had slept...

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Neysa McMein: Who Is She And Why Does She Deserve Your Immediate Attention?

David Finkle | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: The Saturday Evening Post, Alexander Woollcott, The New Yorker, James Montgomery Flagg, George Petty, McCall's Magazine. Dorothy Parker, Neysa McMein, Artists and Illustrators, Biography, S. N. Behrman, John Held, New York News

The revival of S. N. Behrman's Biography has me thinking about someone who's fascinated me for years, someone well-known at the time the play debuted but virtually forgotten now: Neysa McMein.

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Writing Under the Influence, Living Under the Influence

David Finkle | Posted 11.17.2011

Although her title is an eyebrow-raiser, Elizabeth Hawes knows what she's doing. With Camus, a Romance, her new and unconventional work, she isn't simply writing a biography.

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The Life of Cleveland Amory: Q&A with Marilyn Greenwald

Michael Markarian | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Animals, Marilyn Greenwald, Books, Cleveland Amory, Biography, Media News

I had the opportunity to talk with Marilyn Greenwald about her book and about Cleveland's life, and I'm pleased to share that conversation and her insights here with you

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Fixing Up Famous People

Elizabeth Donoghue | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Relationships, Celebrity Kids, Marcia Brady Biography, Steve Martin Biography, Celebrity Gossip, Biography, Entertainment News

I was staring at the "biography" shelf in my home library when I realized: two people from these books went out on a date.

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Top Ten Ways Obama Could Seal the Deal In Thirty Minutes Tonight

Jennifer Donahue | Posted 05.25.2011

Tip #5 -- Include a three-minute piece on family life in the Obama home. Let us see those cute kids in their home. Let us see the family together. That is not only an interesting story, but is something everyone can relate to.

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