RaveLibrary JournalSkillful ... Multilayered and eminently revisitable (like the play and the film), Gefter’s wonderful book helps readers reevaluate vis-à-vis values prevalent half a century later.
David Mamet
PositiveLibrary JournalThe book has a constant stream of stories and tangents, but readers will consistently be entertained. As a bonus, Mamet’s own cartoon sketches decorate the text ... Mamet’s staccato, derisive, episodic, raw-language writing will enchant fans.
David Remnick
PositiveLibrary JournalGeneral readers might best savor this anthology of articles, a tribute to the resilience of maturing music performers, by perusing them one by one.
Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson
RaveLibrary JournalWhile underscoring too frequent stereotypical gender expectations (fewer, surprisingly, during the early days), there is little mention of actual sexual harassment. This edited, conversational retrospective contains much on changes in the industry as experienced by those in it, such as the transition to sound, the waning of censorship after the Production Code and McCarthyism, the use of digital technology, and the challenge of immediate reviews through the blogosphere ... Recommended for the large audience of popular culture enthusiasts for whom knowledge of the Hollywood past will enable them better to appreciate occurring and anticipated industry changes.
Felix Gillette
PositiveLibrary JournalMedia-focused readers may enjoy the executives’, actors’, directors’, and producers’ personal accounts and the abbreviated storylines that review salient aspects of popular culture and iconic shows.
Paul Newman
RaveLibrary JournalReflective ... Readers will want to savor the stories in this oral history-turned-autobiography and undoubtedly be motivated to watch or rewatch Newman’s many films.
G Elliott Morris
PositiveLibrary JournalAmerican journalist Morris, a writer for the Economist, analyzes public opinion polls and pollsters, maintaining that they more reliably report trends, similar to weather forecasts, than provide unassailable predictions...He dissuades readers from dismissing polls and faults researchers for overemphasizing the easily accessible views of highly educated people...This book’s lucid language explains techniques such as manipulative push and unofficial straw polls, while setting the topic in its historical context.
Mark K. Updegrove
PositiveLibrary JournalUpdegrove only mentions, but does not elaborate on, the presidential distractions posed by Kennedy’s womanizing. Instead, he provides more context on the overarching impact of World War II on the extended Kennedy family ... Updegrove demonstrates an extensive familiarity with extant sources and adds new material from the papers of Kennedy aide/speechwriter Richard Goodwin, provided by Goodwin’s widow ... Updegrove will alleviate, although not quench, general readers’ continual thirst for biographies of JFK.
