Arts and Entertainment Books

Steve's really done a great job with this book. It covers anything and everything you could ever want to know on Robin's work up to "Hamlet." Lots of great photos, too. If you're a fan of Robin, a fan of one of his films, or just like movies in general, this is a fabulous book to have.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes Robin Williams. It is very well written, with lots of great pictures - and not just the ones that you always see. The book deals with a lot of what Robin has done on stage and on television, as well as his movie career. It also has chapters on Comic Relief, several interviews, and even a puzzle.

These are some of the things I really enjoyed in this book:
The highlights from An Evening With Robin Williams and the summary of An Evening at the Met.
The short descriptions of all the Mork and Mindy episodes, and the extensive summaries of the very first episode and the episode called Mork Meets Robin Williams.
The account of Mad Magazine's parody of Mork and Mindy: Shmork and Windy.
The long, interesting interviews.
The comments to each of Robin's movies, from Popeye in 1980 to Hamlet in 1997. First Spignesi says what the movie is about, and what he thinks, then comes what the critics said. Often we also get to hear something Robin said about the movie.
(This review is part of my comment on the book on my homepage.)

Robin Williams is only eleven years older than I am, so I guess you could say I grew up with him. Mork and Mindy were primary staple when I was in high school. So when I found THE ROBIN WILLIAMS SCRAPBOOK on sale, I couldn't resist. And in only the first couple of pages, I knew it was a bargain at any price.

Intersperses with the necessary "place of birth" type information, Stephen Spignesi recounts Williams' life from the perspective of Williams' body of work. The book's chapters each represent Williams' work in chronological order as it relates to his life. Written in an engaging, immediate tone, the reader can't help becoming a part of the flow of the text, and the "legalized insanity" of William's life.

As I read, the book's humane, honest, and humorous tidbits that kept my emotions engaged. Learning of Williams' support of actor Christopher Reeve following the accident), his perchance for sexual humor and play, and his favorite joke. Filled with photos, stories of performances, and peaks into his personal life, THE ROBIN WILLIAMS SCRAPBOOK is a fascinating, must read for Williams fans. Very Highly recommended.

In 1932 Ronald Colman was Hollywood's top male star. He was known as the perfect british gentleman, but also for his delicious sense of humour. He was the epitome of graciousness, sensitivity and complete sincerity. Millions of woman loved the introspective sadness in his eyes and the indefinable fragility of that famous, exquisitely modulated voice. His latest film, CYNARA, however, was a flop: the public did not buy their vulnerable and self-sacrificial hero in the role of an adulterer. Sam Goldwyn, his less than gentlemanly boss, was responsible for many embarrassing moments in his career. But this time he went too far: In his new film THE MASQUERADER, Colman played a dual role, one of them was a dipsomaniac. In a publicity-grabbing gimmick, Goldwyn ordered press release, stating, to put it bluntly, that Colman looked, acted and loved best when drunk. The offended star sued his producer for libel and $2 million in damages. After a long war of nerves, the matter was settled out of court, but the star never worked for Goldwyn again.

I mentioned this affair to explain, why Colman, who deserved to be mentioned in one breath with Gable and Grant seems to be forgotten even by usually well-informed film fans. I discovered him only coincidentally, when RANDOM HARVEST was shown late at night, and find it incredible that his name is not known to a larger audience. He won an academy award for A DOUBLE LIFE, his filmography is filled with well-known titles. Although he was one of the first and most successful free-lance actors, his split with Goldwyn cost him dearly: He did not play Rhett Butler (He was Selznick's first choice), he did not play Maxim in REBECCA. Other actors made JANE EYRE, INTERMEZZO, THE PARADINE CASE. Paradoxically, the star with Hollywood's finest speaking voice became a victim of sound: Since he left the studio, he could not remake his most famous silents, THE DARK ANGEL, STELLA DALLAS, and BEAU GESTE - other actors grabbed the roles and those are the versions widely known today. The same thing is true for his famous talking films, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, and A TALE OF TWO CITIES. They were remade in the fifties, and not for the better. His most famous film, LOST HORIZON, was butchered by censors who did not appreciate its pacifistic message. (Colman was seriously wounded in WWI). Since he was a true gentleman who never caused any scandals, it is perhaps a wonder that he is remembered at all.

With his first-rate biography, and filmography, R. Dixon Smith was instrumental in making this wonderful actor known to a wider audience. It contains not only a biography (to be honest, I would have preferred a more intimate biography, but Colman was a very private person and never filled the pages of the yellow press), but, most importantly, a scene-by-scene re-narration of ALL his films: what you would call a spoiler review. This is done in full detail ( ten big pages are consecrated to RANDOM HARVEST, for instance). Those reviews constitute the main part of this excellent book, and offer indispensable informations, especially, since many of his films are lost, hard to get or rarely shown at all. Colman's glamour was genuine, for it came from his gentility, inner strength, and irresistible charm. I highly recommand this book!

If you are a Ronald Colman fan, this is the book for you!

Smith has one of the largest collections of Colman stills in the world, and this is the basis of his exhaustive filmography, covering lost silents, deleted scenes from Colman's films, and all of the favorites ("Lost Horizon," "Random Harvest," and many others).

Smith does not neglect the biographical aspects, and Colman's life is covered as well, in a well-written prose style that is easy to read, as well as informative.

Colman was a true gentleman of the cinema, as well as in his private life, and I can think of no better book to recommend than this one. Smith has done his job well, and I think every classic film fan, along with Colman's fans, will enjoy and learn much from this book.

This biography is a beautiful and sensitive portrayal of a gentleman actor who's dazzling career spanned four decades, and included such films as: RANDOM HARVEST, A TALE OF TWO CITIES and LOST HORIZON. It is evident that the author spent much time, care and love on this book in presenting the reader with all the facts of Ronald Colman's life and his films. Not only is there grand information, but the book is also full of wonderful photographs of the actor. A Wonderful biography.

This collection of the late Richard Salant's letters and memoirs shows that the former CBS News president -- with his strong sense of justice, fairness and intelligence -- deserves to be just as much a legend to the public as the men and women who worked for him.

Throughout the Vietnam and Watergate era of the 60s and 70s, the lawyer-turned-news executive was credited with standing up for his news people in conflicts with the government and business interests. In this volume of memoirs, organized very well by Susan and Bill Buzenberg, readers also see that he was just as tough with his own staff when it came to issues of balance and accuracy.

Readers will also be intrigued by Salant's explanation of why he approved "60 Minutes" several years after it was proposed; his written battle of wits with Charles Crutchfield, the conservative chief executive of a CBS Television affiliate;
why he didn't like music on CBS news shows; and why he felt himself a stranger in strange lands during his post-CBS years at NBC and the National News Council.

This book will be enjoyed by those interested in the issues behind newsgathering. And even though the business has changed markedly (to many, for the worse) since Salant's days, the Salant memoirs show the intelligence, thought and love of humanity he brought to his work -- qualities that are always needed in the exercise of news judgement.

It's been a quarter century after Dick Salant's left the stage of broadcast journalism. But thanks to this excellent book, his wisdom and intellect can benefit generations of young journalists.

I had to read this book for a Media Ethics class and I must say that it was one of my favourite books! Salant teaches readers about the workings of a newsroom and the struggle to do what is right with the news through funny annecdotes and interesting stories. Any aspiring journalist MUST read this, and anyone just looking for a good biography would do well to read this. (Actually, EVERYONE should read this as journalism and the media are a strong presence in all our lives, and this is a fun way to learn more about it.)

The Buzenbergs have captured the essence of a unique man of principle. Using Salant's voluminous archives, this book is a fascinating trip through an era that established high standards in broadcast journalism. The book raises issues and questions which are at the heart of today's journalism. Household names Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw, Jennings, Sevareid are the characters in the tale of how the premiere broadcast news organization came to be - what and who held it together - and the inside view of a corporation struggling with its identity. The players were giants in a land that has more recently turned into a universe of pygmies. You don't have to be a news junkie to enjoy and learn from this book - you just have to ask yourself: "if I see one more Monica Lewinsky story"...I won't take it anymore! Good reading.

Peter Herford

I've read at least 10 different books about the Grateful Dead. While many of these books are very informative, nothing comes close to Phil Lesh's book. It reads more like a day-to-day encyclopedia of Phil's perspective of his life before, during and after the Grateful Dead. No detail seems to be left out. His memory of the minutia of his life is staggering. If you really want to know what was going on with Phil before, during and after the Grateful Dead, this book is highly recommended. It is not a quick read but it is very informative: more so than any other book regarding the Grateful Dead. Budget between 15 and 20 hours to read this book even though it does not appear to be that long of a book. Phil, job well done! Bravo!

Phil Lesh has written a very thoughtful and introspective at times auto- and bio -graphy of his bandmates, lives, loves, families, and most importante to most of us, fictional caricatures...(I mean, Neal Cassidy, was that guy for real???!!!) My road stories pale in comparison, as do all of ours, I think...and the muzak, just flows from Phil's pen, in a similar rythm as his music. Hey, Phil, thanks for the memories, your style is similar to snapshots that one can pull out and look at from time to time, grin, laugh, cry, all good, everything's good. This is one of my current fave gifts to friends, probably will be forever. Classic. Life is good, cya

An old maxim states that if you can remember the 1960s, then you probably weren't there; a sentiment that suggests, I suppose, that if you really were an active participant in that frenzied decade, with its recreational and psychedelic drug use, then your brainpan should be too sizzled to recall any of it. Putting the lie to this old adage is Phil Lesh, in his 2005 autobiography "Searching for the Sound." If there's any survivor of the '60s who should have his cerebrum toasted well past the point of recall, it is Phil Lesh. As one of the original hippies, a participant at every one of the eight Acid Tests, a veteran of the true Summer of Love (1966), AND the 30-year bass player extraordinaire for that most psychedelic and improvisatory of San Francisco bands, the Grateful Dead, Lesh certainly did have his fair share of electric Kool-Aid pass under his bridge! But, as his beautifully written book reveals, his memory remains remarkably clear, even regarding those events of four decades ago surrounding the birth of his seminal band. To his great credit, Lesh has written his story all by his ownsome--with no ghost writer or coauthor--and tells the Dead's story with clarity, passion and a good deal of touching sentiment; as he movingly tells us in his intro, "I was born an only child but found my true brothers through the art of music." I have personally been a "Deadhead" since the late '60s, and was still unaware of the vast majority of the tales that Lesh doles out in his book. What stories the man can tell! One of the more distressing ones comes early on, when we learn of how guitarist Jerry Garcia almost fell out of a train whilst en route to a Vancouver gig in summer 1966, and would have been crushed by an oncoming train if fellow bandmember Bob Weir had not pulled him back in time. Our good ol' Grateful Dead might have been finished before it had properly begun! Phil matches his writing style and choice of words to match the craziness of some of those Acid Tests, and his way-out description of his craziest (accidental) acid trip is a memorable one indeed. The incident with Barney the Dinosaur and Garcia will surely have all fans of the band laughing out loud, as will Lesh's revelation that an early moniker choice for the nascent band was Mythical Ethical Icicle Tricycle! Lesh seems to hold little back, detailing his descent into alcoholism without maudlin self-pity. Needless to say, many of the stories in this book are sad ones; the Dead lost too many of its family over the years--three keyboardists (well, four now that Vince Welnick has left us) plus Uncle Jerry--and Phil's recounting of these losses is obviously deeply felt. The usual highlights are touched on, of course: Woodstock (pretty nightmarish, from Lesh's description), Altamont (even more so), the bust in New Orleans, the Europe '72 tour, the Dead's gig at the Great Pyramids. But for every by-now-familiar tale (and even these seem fresh through Lesh's eyes) there are a dozen less familiar ones, and the author tells his stories with insight, articulateness, and the wisdom that comes from great trial and experience. (And how gratifying, for me, to learn from Phil how much the band valued audience participation and feedback--I sometimes wondered--and that Madison Square Garden, where I attended so many of my Dead shows, was one of his favorite venues to play in.) What Phil does NOT do in his book is explain the meaning of the Dead's songs ("Box of Rain" excepted); those looking for an in-depth discussion of the recondite significance of "What's Become of the Baby" are advised to seek out another publication (such as David Dodd's excellent new "The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics"). The first five years of the band's history take up the full first half of Phil's story--I gather that he finds the earlier stuff more noteworthy--and, in the book's second half, the final 25 years are increasingly compressed; we can almost feel the accelerating, frenzied tempo of the group's final years. Please don't misunderstand me; I am not complaining here about any disproportionate emphasis. The truth of the matter is that Phil's book could obviously have been four times longer than he has chosen to make it; 30 years in rock music's most heavily gigging band would naturally provide Phil with a superabundance of material, and, again to his credit, he has chosen to write with great economy, cherry picking the incidents that he wants to include and excluding much else. (Perhaps one day we'll be able to coax another book's worth of stories from him...I hope!)
I mentioned up top that Phil's memory seems to be preternaturally clear, and it does; and yet, some sticking points crop up. For example, he tells us that in summer 1970, at the end of the trans-Canadian railway tour so finely chronicled in the film "Festival Express," Janis Joplin received a birthday cake from the tour promoters. But Janis' birthday is widely quoted as being January 19th. Something strange there. Also, Phil tells us of one of the best double bills that he ever witnessed at Bill Graham's Fillmore West: Chuck Berry and Count Basie's Big Band, in summer 1967. BUT, according to the complete listing of Fillmore West concerts provided in the old double CD "Fillmore, The Last Days," such a double bill never occurred that summer. Rather, Chuck Berry appeared with the Steve Miller Blues Band and the Charles Lloyd Quartet from August 16-17, and Basie appeared with the Charles Lloyd Quartet from August 20-21. I'm not saying who's right and who's wrong--how should I know?--but it sure does leave a reader scratching the ol' noggin. Anyway, these are mere quibbles. The bottom line is that Phil Lesh has done all fans of the Grateful Dead and 1960s rock a tremendous service by putting pen to paper and sharing some of his memories with us. Needless to say, as the only band member to do so thus far, he has provided us with a work of great historical significance. I have read the book twice already, and will surely continue to refer to it for years to come. Thanks, Phil! And, on a personal side note TO Phil, please remember to take your milk thistle! We all need you around for as long as humanly possible!

This is a superb tell all on how to inject the best of Hollywood into your business. From Broadway to Sunset Boulevard, this is is the new Ogilvy On Advertising. Bravo!

I have been in the advertising world for 22 years and this is the first book I have read that cuts to the chase and abandons untested theory.The book is filled with advice from people who are specialists and guide you down the right path. It does not matter that this book is focused on entertainment marketing, it's rules and tips are universal. I also teach marketing and I will strongly recommend this book to my students and fellow teachers. Bravo Barry!

This is the first business book I have read that is useful, insighful and intelligent. As a Broadway producer and businessman, i found the book to be wonderfully light and yet profound. If you are in marketing, sales or entertainment...YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!

Sepia Dreams is definitely a MUST HAVE for one that has a great appreciation for art/photography. The affirmations are inspiring. The book is a great gift to give to loved ones.

Beautiful. Intelligent. Inspirational. Sepia Dreams is a work of art and aspiration! With so many stories of the people we love the most, you can't put it down. A great gift, and a must-have addition to your home library!
--LLOYD BOSTON, author of MEN OF COLOR

From the moment I first opened this book, I haven't been able to stop talking about it to my co-workers, friends, and family. Never before have I been so proud to own a book . At a time when we could all use something upbeat and positive, this book is inspirational, motivational, and uplifting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!

There are thousands of biographies of Shakespeare. Picking which to read can be a challenge. "Shakespeare the Player," by John Southworth, is the third Shakespeare biography I've read. I recommend it highly for its passion, its premise and its detail. This book leaves you with an appreciation of, not just the writer of the most famous plays in the world, but the actors he wrote FOR and the roles he played IN. In a readable, well-organised presentation, Southworth turns Shakespeare the austere genius into Shakespeare the warm human being.

Shakespeare learned his craft by acting first and writing second, contrary to conventional treatments of his life. These are the points that struck my interest:
. Shakespeare the apprentice actor, playing roles in other writers' works, learning to be part of a team of players, learning to read an audience's reactions, learning to read fellow actors' abilities
. Shakespeare the company sharer, investing in his company when he had the experience and money, becoming a stakeholder whose written plays were part but not all of his substantial contributions to the success of the team
. Writing specific parts that fit specific actors
. Emphasis on time on tour as well as at home in London

Southworth is an actor and director who brings experience and research to provide supporting detail for his points:
. Superb familiarity with the plays and lines (making the most readable and engaging summary of Shakespeare's works I've ever seen)
. Examples of influences of lines from other Elizabethan plays, in which Shakespeare performed as an apprentice, on lines in his earliest written plays (showing influence on his development as a writer from his experience as an apprentice).
. Line by line comparisons of Sonnets and Plays (and discussing how Shakespeare's love for plays was greater than his love for poems)
. What roles Shakespeare would have played (kingly but not always the king; roles that allowed him to coach apprentices and influence performance tone and style of the overall play during rehearsal)
. What roles his fellow actors and apprentices would have played (roles for his fellow veterans, roles for the apprentices showing them off and developing them into experienced veterans in their own right)
. Queen Elizabeth's and King James' support for players in general and Shakespeare's companies in particular (and the differences in plays that the two respective monarchs preferred)

This book, and SHAKESPEARE OF LONDON by Marchette Chute, are the only works known to me on Shakespeare that emphasize his work as an actor-director. Once one is reminded that Shakespeare was one of the leading actors in the various companies in which he worked and for whom he wrote, much of his life and career arc make far better sense than they do in the usual biographies that concentrate exclusively on his writing, as if he sat every night in a rented room and generated page after page with no actors or theater in mind. It also supplies a very different picture of how the members of any given successful group of players spent the year, particularly in its demonstration that even players with a dedicated, available playhouse in London still necessarily spent a good part of each year on tour.

Any discussion of the details of any part of Shakespeare's life is necessarily 99% speculation and 1% ambiguous documentation. However, Southworth's guesses as to the roles taken or preferred by Shakespeare in his own plays are soundly based on Southworth's lifelong experience as an actor in many performances of most of the Bard's plays, and generally made sense to me. It would be fascinating to get some clearer idea of the roles he took in the plays of Jonson and Marlowe, and Southworth does make some guesses, at least for the Marlowe plays that had the most obvious influence on Shakespeare's own earliest plays.

Southworth pictures Shakespeare as a whole-hearted "man of the theater" from well before his hasty marriage until just a few weeks before his untimely death in his early 50s. It's a picture that is consistent with what we know about the Elizabethan and Jacobian theater, and which remains consistent with the few documents that place Shakespeare at any given spot at any given time, doing any specific thing.

In short, it's a highly-recommended eye-opener.

As an academic, I could resent the sometimes acerbic references to academics in John Southworth's Shakespeare the Player, but as an academic I learned more from this non-academic book than I have learned from many academic books on Shakeespeare. The book is written by aprofessional theater person, an actor/director, who has a thorough knowledge of Shakespeare's plays and of the interactions among casts and playwrights and stages and plays and performances. From this background, he proposes and credibly supports four lines of argument: a) that there cannot be any lost years in Shakespeare's biography: to do what he did, Shakespeare had to have had an extensive apprenticeship in the theater, and Southworth adds evidence in support of the theory that this was Leceister's company; b) that there is no credible evidence that Shakespeare ever retired from the theater, and much circumstantial evidence from theater lives to suggest that he did no such thing; c) that Shakespeare was primarily an actor/director in his own plays, and not primarily a playwright, in his own eyes and the eyes of his colleagues; and d) that the roles he chose for himself, roles like Iago in "Othello," were characterized by being somewhat detached from the action, frequency of appearance on stage even when not speaking, and often a kind of controlling relationship with the other characters. The style is clear, unpretentions and very readable, the presentation direct, knowledgeable and carefully argued with detailed and credible evidence. I found the book to be the most helpful single book in illuminating Shakespeare and his plays that I've read in the last ten years.

This Shirley Temple Scrapbook is really a wonderful little treasure for all the Temple fans out there. As the name bestows, this book is fully loaded with all kinds of images of Shirley Temple. These photos range from publicity shots to movie scenes to private photo collections. Many I've never seen before.

Additionally, there are interesting little tidbits about Shirley's experiences while filming her movies. Also, there is a cronological listing of all her movies starting from her Baby Burlesque material all the way till A Kiss For Corliss, which was released in 1949. There is a short listing of plot as well as all the characters, producers, and directors for each movie.

Overall this is a very a nice and thorough visual document of Shirley Temple's amazing career. Her sparkle is well evident in many of these photos and proof of why she was such a success and why you will really enjoy this wonderful scrapbook.

If you're looking for that "everything you need and want to know about Shirley Temple" book, then this is the one for you!

Carefully divided between Shirley's personal life and her film career, the book's clever design displays the abundance of fabulous photos and text as if it were truly a scrapbook.

Loraine Burdick helps us get to know Shirley Temple the child star, the teenager, the young adult, the mother, the wife, and the ambassador.

Whether you are looking for a fun book to leaf through or a solid front-to-back read about Shirley Temple, this book is a must!

The Shirley Temple Scapebook is not only a great picture book but it gives a good deal of interesting detail about Shirley's life. I love the way Loraine Burdick takes information from several other resources and books about Shirley and combines them to create a broader picture. Thus, leaving you to your own opinion. It is wonderful to look through the scrapebook and relive old memories. I think the book would be appealing to both adoring fans and those with only mild interest. However, how many people can resist Shirley Temple. Enjoy. I highly recommend the book.

Francis Albert Sinatra....what more needs to be said. His music will live on as long as their is men loving women and women loving men. This book is fabulous. I read it all in 1 day and reread it again. You will love this book if your a Sinatra fan like me.

Photographer, John Dominis and former editor of Life Magazine, Richard B. Stolley, collaborated and came out with this interesting book about the world's most famous and charismatic singer, the legendary Frank Sinatra. In 1965, it was a very good year for the "Golden Boy" when he turned 50 and gave Dominis full access to his professional as well as his personal life for Life Magazine's cover story. Thirty-seven years later, Dominis and Stolley came out with this 144-page hardcover, which consists of numerous black and white photos of Sinatra with other movie and music celebrities. These photos were taken from Life magazine's archives and never-before published. It also includes some notable articles and anecdotes about his famous and celebrated life.

There are a lot of little known facts about him revealed in this fabulous book. Sinatra as described by friends and co-artists was perfectionist, fearless, kinetic, generous, attentive to details and had an acutely sensitive ears. According to his friend and musical partner for more than four decades, pianist Bill Miller, "he would pick the tunes himself and position them on the albums." This is a perfect example of his being attentive to details. Another fact is a reference to his famous song "Fly Me To The Moon" (also sung on the movie "Wall Street") with Count Basie & His Orchestra that made history when it was beamed to the U.S. astronauts as they landed on the moon for the first time in 1969.

According to Stolley, despite Sinatra's flamboyant lifestyle, he used bathroom potions and powders right off the drugstore shelf. And he was one of the biggest tippers in the world. He was always loyal to friends and usually courteous to strangers. He was a 'party animal' and slept only five hours a night. He turned on music, read a while and finally falls asleep. He listened to music, mostly classical and never his own records. These are just some of the many interesting and little known facts about Sinatra indicated in this book. Dominis is a very good photographer and his black and white images are all stunning and eye-catching. Stolley did a great job on the captions and articles and made them reader-friendly.

For Sinatra buffs, it goes without saying that if you are interested in his music, you'd also be interested to know more about his life. And this book will give you more insights about him that you'll find to be noteworthy. Likewise, please check out "The Sinatra Treasures" and "Sinatra: An Intimate Collection" for more interesting must-reads.

I LOVE this book. It's a collectors item no doubt. Pics of Frank that you've never seen before. Classics with Frank and Jackie Gleason and Sammy Davis jr. Frank at his house, on the massage table, in private places never seen. You can tell he wasn't posing for these pics. All naturally which is why it is so unique. And the texts keeps you wanting to roll thru the book without putting it down. What a life he had! What a book this is!!

Michael Brandmeier

I love this book, the more I learn about Mr. Sinatra the more I fall in love with him...He was the epitome of class and of someone who lived life "his way". He set the bar high for other performing actors/singers and I think no other can match his genious aside from Lucianno Pavarotti....Excellent read!!

Of the plethora of books on Frank Sinatra that have been fighting for space on the shelves since his death, this is the best.

A wonderful essay by John Lahr chronicles his life, from the tough streets of Hoboken to a room in Beverly Hills shortly before his 80th birthday. A now well chronicled life, but captured by Mr Lahr in all its complexity and contradiction.

At the heart of this life was his great gift - singing. At the very end, in the Beverly Hills room, surrounded by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan (what were they doing there?) Steve Lawrence and others, he insisted on singing the solo. It was his right then, as it had been his right throughout his life. And he was undeniable.

A beautifully designed and produced book, it is adorned with a perfect selection of photographs to complement the essay. Look at the faces on page 102, completely transfixed by "The Voice" and see what James Agee called "an erotic dream".

A must have for Sinatra fans, and anyone fascinated by popular culture.

This is the best-looking coffee table book on Sinatra, with most of the first half based on an excellent essay by John Lahr. For a thorough look at the music, you want Will Friedwald's book, but this one is a classic photo tour of Sinatra's career from Hoboken to the world. I could spend a 1000 words on the pictures, but you can travel back to the 1950s with this one. The large format photos bring home the personality of the subjects, who include Nat Cole, Ava Gardner, Dean Martin, Count Basie and other music icons of the last century. Very enjoyable evening read, also.