Offers an effective portrait of Cohn’s role in New York society in an era when sleaze and respectability were not clearly delineated. There is a great deal of salacious gossip; readers will learn far more than they ever wanted to know about Cohn’s sexual habits. Yet despite the extent of Bird and Goldmark’s research, the portrayal of Cohn as an unbounded narcissist misses some of what his life might tell us about the right-wing politics of his era.
I gobbled up every page ... A bounteous cornucopia of midcentury sleaze and uneasily addictive for just that reason ... As ugly and lurid as this saga is, American Scoundrel is consistently riveting, full of astonishing twists, ballsy plots, and eleventh-hour escapes from justice, like the legal version of the exploits of some Old West outlaw who is forever eluding the sheriffs by the skin of his teeth.
In this capacious and probing biography, prize-winning biographer Bird and researcher Goldmark depict Cohn as a study in contrasts, an antisemitic Jew and a homophobic gay man who was charming to his friends and cruel to those he considered his enemies. To the extent that Cohn’s impact is still being felt 40 years after his death through the persona of his prized pupil and friend, Donald Trump, this deeply researched, admirably balanced, and propulsively paced biography is key to understanding the current political culture.
Astonishing ... It adds up to an extraordinary portrait of a singular American figure whose callousness and brazenness continue to mar the country 40 years after his death.
