Book Description
Ever since William Jefferson Clinton and Hillary Diane Rodham entered the political arena in Arkansas more than a quarter-century ago, millions of words have been written about them -- from staid biography to pop psychology, from blatant hagiography to lurid diatribes, to the Star Report. Even so, they have remained enigmas, with many unanswered questions.
What drives them? What keeps them together? Do they or don't they? Will they or won't they? So many unknowns.
Until now.
For the first time, the most personal questions are answered in this objective, compassionate and intimate portrait of the world's most powerful couple, who have confounded all of us with their complex and unprecedented marital and political alliance.
Based on scores of candid interviews with family members, confidants, colleagues, and present and former friends and associates who have never spoken out before, this scrupulously researched and meticulously reported book reveals exclusive and explosive new details and secrets about Bill and Hillary that will surprise and shock their most ardent supporters and debunkers alike.
From their peculiar childhoods in Arkansas and Illinois to the governors' mansion in Little Rock and on to the inner sanctum of the White House and beyond, investigative biographer Jerry Oppenheimer offers a stunning depiction of the First Couple -- one that explodes myths and exposes deep new layers of their lives, transcending anything ever before written about them.
Oppenheimer, who pierces the Clintons' inner circle, offers a stark assessment of the President and the First Lady by the people who know them best, disclosing the truly remarkable and poignant story behind their successes, defeats, and scandals. With its headline-making revelations, State of a Union is sure to have a profound impact on the Clintons' public and private lives -- and the political futures of this complex, fascinating, charismatic couple.
Customer Reviews:
Incredulous argument.......2004-12-27
Bill and Hillary Clinton's marriage is perhaps the most scrutizized in the world. In this book, Oppenheimer presses his opinion that the Clinton's marriage is held together not by love as in a normal human marriage but by ambition. It is interesting to see how he has put together such a incredulous argument. I have to agree that his argument is logical. However, much of the evidence is unreliable. Such stories as one would find in a supermarket tabloid. It is an interesting but hard to believe perspective?
An Accurate, Carefully Researched Portrait of the Clintons.......2002-12-11
Unlike Peggy Noonan's trashy tome about Hillary Clinton which I lambasted in another review, this book was excellent, being factual, carefully researched and well written. The author delves into family histories of both Clintons, which helps the reader to better understand how their upbringing shaped their personalities. Oppenheimer interviews numerous friends and relatives who were close to the Clintons, and disputes some inaccuracies found in other Clinton biographies.
Of all the books I've read on Bill and Hillary, this one portrayed them the most objectively and fairly. It is not a one-sided, gossipy tell-all but a careful study of the Clinton's marriage and an analysis of their very diverse, but complimentary personalities: Hillary as a strident, intense, ambitious perfectionist from the Midwest and Bill, an affable, laid-back, shrewd, womanizing Southern boy. Their strengths helped them to achieve their goal of the Presidency; but their weaknesses proved to be their undoing.
Theirs is not a marriage of love but one of raw political ambition and power, a business partnership in which a deal was struck before their nuptials. Of the two, Hillary comes off the worse. Her foul mouth and vicious "go-for-the-jugular" attacks against opponents and friends are legendary. Bill, clearly eclipsed and overpowered by his strong-willed wife, resorts to behaving like an oversexed school boy, unzipping his fly at the drop of a hat. Possibly his excessive womanizing is because Hillary castrates him on a daily basis, so poor Bill has to make sure his equipment grows back and is in working order....hmm, that sounds like a familiar Greek myth, only instead of entails being ripped out by a vulture and growing back overnight, we have...,well you get the picture.
This book is out of print, but if you can snare a used copy here at Amazon.com, you're in for an intelligent, enjoyable read.
Not a hatchet job.......2002-11-19
I first saw this book referenced in Michael Tomasky's Hillary's Turn. Tomasky described this book as a hatchet job. State of a Union is far from a negative attack on the former First Couple, and actually paints a more sympathetic portrait of the Clintons than their most fawning sycophants usually do. State of a Union is little more than fluff but gives a good overview of a complex and nuanced political partnership. Jerry Oppenheimer manages to give childhood and marital details without dabbling in pure psychobabble, but this is a beach book and not history---and doesn't pretend to be anything else.
Incorrect data damages author's credibility.......2002-03-19
Okay, so it's a small thing, but on page 92 of the Harper Collins hard-cover edition, the author states that one of Hillary's relatives graduated from Stevens College in COLUMBUS, MISSOURI. NOT! Stephens College is in Columbia, Missouri, which is also the location of the University of Missouri, touted by many, ironically, as the leading journalism school in the country. I really do not understand errors like this. Is it just plain sloppiness or carelessness? In the presence of a stupid mistake like this, are there possible other research mistakes, larger ones, perhaps? I will add that this book, notwithstanding the fact that after page 92, I read with some degree of skepticism, was fundamentally a good read, well organized, informative, and interesting.
A Preference for Fluff.......2001-02-23
I'm not familiar with the author but having finished most of the book by now, I consider it to be about 20% truth, and 80% fiction. To be honest, it is one of the most seedy collections of anecdotes I've seen on the Clintons matched only by the "accidentally revealed" impeachment depositions and documents of his second term. If ever there was evidence of grudge and harrassment against Hillary, this surely speaks for itself. How much is accurate is debateable, of course, but even a reasonably careful reading shows the book to have incorporated every negative possible of the interpretation of Clinton's Presidency and his wife's influence and involvement. Even a logical reading indicates that most could not be true, or if true, is such a distorted picture of the two lives that it renders it both inexplicable and unbelievable that anyone would spend time constructing supposedly factual information such as this and marketing it as nonfiction. For anyone who was even the most casual observor of the two terms, it will surely bring forth concerns of how authors use their writings to distort events, personalities, and circumstances to create an illusion of truth based upon circumstantial evidence and assumption. To the gullible, it can be quite damaging since it is presented as truth, and due to the quotations, reads like truth. If I had written the book, and was trying to discredit the subject, I couldn't have done a better job. No one knows exactly how much of previous books and materials published contain accurate information about the Clintons, events, or their relationship together, this is not likely to be one of them. But each person will have to decide for himself/herself. Good luck!
Amazon.com
Vanity Fair writer Gail Sheehy's engrossing biography of Hillary Clinton is a refreshing departure from the political hit jobs that have appeared elsewhere in print. That's not to say Hillary's Choice is a pro-Clinton book--Hillary herself would probably bristle at reading it, and her husband ("The story of the Clinton presidency has always been the story of the Clinton marriage," writes Sheehy) comes off as a bright but demented cad. Yet Hillary's Choice is broadly sympathetic and often nonjudgmental at crucial moments. Sheehy writes very little about public policy, but includes plenty of pop psychologizing. She suggests that the president is a sex addict afflicted by what "a highly qualified mental health professional who works too close to the White House to be identified" calls "dissociative identities"--what used to be known as "multiple personalities ... a sum of various identities that have been split off at some time in the past." And the president gets away with so much in his personal life because Hillary has become his unwitting enabler: "Every addict or alcoholic needs one. The enabler is usually an intimate of the addicted person who allows him to persist in self-destructive behavior by making excuses or helping him avoid the consequences of his actions."
That describes Sheehy's Hillary perfectly: a woman apparently ignorant of her husband's several flings in the White House before Monica Lewinsky came along, and then willfully deceived by the president's lies until just hours before his momentous grand-jury testimony. Theirs is a mother-son relationship in which true love must negotiate its way through astonishingly difficult periods. That's not a formula for how marriage ought to work, but it has nevertheless helped this ultimate power couple achieve enormous success. Hillary's Choice is full of on-the-record and background interviews, all assembled in an absorbing narrative. Writes Sheehy: "The saga of Bill and Hillary, with its echoes of Eleanor and Franklin, or Tracy and Hepburn with undertones of Bonnie and Clyde, is animated by melodrama, high passion, narrow escapes, and knock-down-drag-outs." And it comes alive in this biography of the most enigmatic woman of our time. --John J. Miller
Book Description
This is the story of a woman and a marriage, both so famous the world over, we think we know everything there is to know. But
Hillary's Choice renders America's First Lady fully human for the first time.
Gail Sheehy uncovers the lifelong imprint of Hillary's drillmaster father and the frustrated mother who taught her to bottle up her emotions and who took subversive pleasure in teaching her only daughter how to fight like a man. We listen in as Hillary describes, in letters to a college pen pal, her dreams of becoming a star and her depression when trying to choose an identity. And we meet her first love, the handsome Georgetown man who melted her midwestern puritanism but lost her to the more ambitious Bill Clinton.
We see the arc of Hillary's life through her headstrong choices: as a Yale Law School graduate who chooses to marry an Arkansas boy, thinking she will get him elected to Con-gress and take him back to Washington; as a professional wife who chooses to abandon her own career dream so she can raise a "boy" to be a president; as a woman betrayed once too often who finally confronts her husband and makes the deal that will determine their future.
Sheehy has been observing Hillary Clinton for seven years, talking to her informally and writing about her in Vanity Fair. The biographical portrait that emerges is a tour de force of hard reporting shaped by the intimate contour of the author's unique insights.
The story of the Clinton presidency has always been the story of the Clinton marriage. Delving deep into a relationship that is both supportive and destructive, Sheehy answers the constantly asked question "Why does she stay with him?" How has Hillary preserved her spirit through repeated cycles of Clinton's seduction, betrayal, and repentance? Sheehy peels back the layers of public masks and private denials, showing through one vivid scene after another how Hillary became addicted to Bill, and how desperately Bill depended on Hillary to teach him how to fight and to bring him back again and again from the political dead. Power and shame shift violently from Hillary to Bill and back again as Sheehy deconstructs their embattled co-presidency.
Hillary's Choice reveals much more: the one serious threat to the Clinton marriage, when Bill fell in love with a woman unlike any of his others; Hillary's symbiotic relationship with political guru Dick Morris; the real reason Clinton couldn't help Hillary pass health care reform; the source of Hillary's crippling hostility toward the press; how Hillary escaped the snare of Ken Starr; how she endured, and capitalized on, the miseries of the Monica year; why she polarizes women; and why she chose to seek her own political voice.
Hillary's Choice brings this tempestuous tale up to date, following Hillary's rebirth as a newly confident woman in her "Flaming Fifties" who is ready to take control of her life. The Clintons' startling role reversal in middle life maintains the suspense: Will Hillary succeed as a retail politician with Bill in the wings as her strategist? Will their marriage survive his postpresidential blues and her possible rejection by her new neighbors in New York?
Gail Sheehy's saturation reporting and candid interviews with hundreds of people--many of them fresh sources with intimate knowledge of Hillary--flesh out the complexities and contradictions that drive one of the most extraordinary political figures of our time.
Download Description
Since the Starr report, the nature of the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton has been more hotly disputed than ever. Are they a cold, calculating partnership? A sex addict and his enabler? A long-suffering, lamp-throwing wife and her straying husband? Evacuating the private saga of America's most public marriage, Gail Sheehy takes the Clintons from the moment their eyes met (in school) through the incalculable humiliation of the Lewinsky affair and the drama of the impeachment battle. Sheehy reveals the power shifts, the passion, and the price Hillary has paid as well as her choices and their consequences.
Customer Reviews:
Same lousy writing and psuedo-psychobabble,.......2004-07-05
I must really confess that I can,t stand either women, either the author or the Clinton.
When in college I was forced to read the Rhetoric by Aristotle.Thank goodness, he went on and on and on about how a speaker must first establish her/his reputation and give reasons why she/he should be listened to.
Isn,t this the same Gail Sheehey who plagarized (read stole) important parts of her first novel Passages from a UCLA Psychiatry professor who was doing research on the subject.She settled out of court wisely, gave the good Dr. some dough, and must have laughed all the way to the bank.That was a long time ago and like Hilary she thought "wow, I can steal a lot of good stuff, not use some of it, pay the guy off and make a fortune." She has churned out book after book,none very good.She should have gone into politics in another country.Obviously, i was biased against the book but tried hard, really, to see if it had many redeeming qualities.
There is a great deal of factual information about Hilary, her childhood, her relationship with BIll but the interpretations of why she is motivated to do such and such are pretty shabby. I am a psychiatrist and find her attempts at divining both CLinton,s adult personalities from their childhood truamas pathetic guesswork by an amateur. I dont, think the Clinton,s can really stand each other, has anyone seen ANY genuine affection between them for all the time they,ve been on the world stage?They stay together for political and financial reasons and both seem to have very small conscienses while now both getting filthy rich.
Too be totally fair, some parts of the book are very interesting about many factual occurences Mrs.Clinton background but it didn,t change my mind about the author or the politician.
A non-fictional account of the Clintons.......2004-06-17
Read this book and you will understand why Bill and Hillary act as they do. ..... This book is much better than Hillary's fictional account of her life, "Living History". ..... "Hillary's choice is not to know what she knows." ..... A very enlightening account. ...... A "must read".
RECOMMENDED FOR HILLARY WATCHERS.......2002-10-23
I have had the dubious pleasure of reading and rereading quite a number of works addressing the life and times of Hillary Clinton.
While I am not a great fan of Billie, I must admit to sort of an admiration for Hillary. Be-that-as-it-may, I enjoyed this book. It was well written and I thought pretty well ballanced. Many of the "facts" presented, will have to be tested by time, but for now, I feel they are probably as close to the truth we will get.
Ms Clinton is certainly one of the more fascinating individuals of our times and I am quite sure history will continue to judge her as such. She is an interesting subject. In many ways, she is us. The author of this book is an interesting writer and between the author and the subject, we get a very interesting story. Thank you Ms Gail for writing it.
Biased and Damaging.......2001-09-14
Believe it or not, I am one of the few in the country that is not intimately familiar with all of the scandals of the Clinton presidency. I had hoped that, in reading this book, I would understand a little bit more in depth what had happened to have the nation in an uproar and gain some valuable insights to Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, the bias is so evident in this book that I know that I do not have a complete picture as to what actually happened.
In Ms. Sheehy's eyes, Clinton is a proverbial villian and she just assumes everyone else feels the same way too. While she could still present her case against him and not interfere with the integrity of the story, she takes every opportunity to make jibes and call him names. It is hardly objective to call him a philanderer incessantly - whether he is or not. However, the main problem with this attitude is that she lets this get in the way of reporting the evidence fairly. For instance, she makes reference to the stories of the State Trooper's quite frequently. She is overly eager to use their stories against Bill when it concerns his affairs. However, when the same sources indicate that there was an affair with Vince Foster by Hillary, she refutes their legitimacy. Then she goes on to refer to their allegations against Bill, seeming to forget that they also made allegations against Hillary. Which is it? Were they really discredited? Were parts discredited? If so, what parts and how? If they were discredited, why include a remark from an alarmed Bill Clinton to the effect that the AR governor should not be upset because he controls the state police? This only legitimizes their stories which gets us back to, so what's the deal with Vince Foster? As you can see, this book left me with many more questions than were answered.
While I do have a clearer picture of Hillary Clinton, the picture painted of her while in the White House, gives me serious reservation about how she would act if she was actually the President. If this book's assertion that there was really nothing to hide is true, it means that Ms. Clinton can not be trusted to be forthcoming when she believes that the hand is being called - even if she knows she has a winning hand. It would have made more sense to lay out the evidence against her and then give her argument as to specifically why she was withholding evidence. Maybe I could have seen myself doing the same thing if faced with the same situation but this is presented as a woman's grudge against the media for no justifiable reason. Of course, she also nevers really hits the question as to whether records were withheld by Mrs. Clinton. She spends a few paragraphs on the possible reasons an administrative assistant might not come forward with a box if she had been asked to find it and, not finding it, found it under her desk months later. After spending almost a hundred pages on her early life and college years, couldn't we spare a few to address the questions that would undoubtedly be brought up by events during the presidency? It simply doesn' hold water in my opinion. People have to have a reason for doing what they do. Especially people with advisors.
Just gossip.......2001-07-16
This book really has nothing to do with Hillary or the Clintons -- it has everything to do with Gail Sheehy - her mean-spiritedness, her willingness to gossip, her jealousy, her arrogance, her pain. This book is not good journalism -- not recommended for anyone to read.
Amazon.com
The gamy tale told by Andersen (a biographer of Jack and Jackie Kennedy) is heartbreaking because it portrays Bill Clinton as a rapist, and because the juiciest of Andersen's scary stories are the toughest to pin down. Lots of his sources are anonymous, and when there's been conflicting public testimony, he tends to go with the most lurid accusations. If Bill really had a 30-year affair with Dolly Kyle Browning, one supposes he might have nicknamed her "Pretty Girl," but when she testifies that Hillary's body odor was overwhelming, one wants corroboration.
Does Bill really proudly check off the days on his calendar when he doesn't cheat on Hillary? Did he chase Barbra Streisand around a piano, have rough sex with Miss America, grope a woman's breasts in the bathroom at his own wedding reception, and seduce a major campaign contributor's future niece-in-law at her engagement party? Did he bed Susan "Hot Pants" McDougal, rock groupie "Sweet Sweet Connie" Hamzy, Robyn "Thumbs" Dickey, Gennifer "Pookie" Flowers, three beauty queens, 30 different women while campaigning in Arkansas, and hundreds of others? Did Bill hit up 50 ex-lovers for campaign cash? Did a prostitute he met while jogging near the governor's mansion bear his child? Does Bill call Hillary "Hilla the Hun" and "The Warden," and did she bed suicidal White House legal advisor Vince Foster? Did stress over Bill's satyriasis send Hillary and Chelsea to the hospital? Are the Clintons as cruel, destructive, and hopelessly in love as Andersen claims? Who knows? If not, this is the raciest first-family fiction since Primary Colors. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
They are, by any definition, one of history's most remarkable couples: he the irrepressible country-boy populist oozing ambition and Southern charm, she the brilliant lawyer with a taste for power and, in the end, an unshakable allegiance to the man in her life. Together, Bill and Hillary Clinton scaled the heights of power and prestige, only to have his wantonly reckless behavior bring them to the brink of personal and political ruin. Despite the billions of words that have been written about Bill and Hillary, the true nature of their relationship remains a jealously guarded secret.
Until now. In the manner of his headline-making #1 New York Times bestseller The Day Diana Died and his bestselling books about another President and First Lady, Jack and Jackie and Jackie After Jack, Christopher Andersen draws on important sources - many speaking here for the first time - to take readers on a fascinating journey inside the world's most talked-about marriage. Among the revelations:
--The stormy clash between the President and the First Lady when he finally confessed his adultery to her.
--Never-before-known details of their courtship, the real reason they stay together, and their bizarre links to Jack and Jackie Kennedy.
--From Barbra Steisand to a Miss America to Sharon Stone and Monica, the hundred of women in Bill's life - and how Hillary has handled them.
Customer Reviews:
Just a "tell me more" kind of story!.......2001-10-29
Basically a "tell more book" because everything in the book just reinforces the scandals we all heard about. There is lot of detail covering the escapades of Clinton, but most of everything had already surfaced.
The marriage is a business partnership. Hillary needed Bill to get to the top (in the political world only) as she was her own smart person without him. He needed her, knew she was smarter and could help his career. They were a poor match for each other, so it was understandable that they have a "partnership marriage."
Bill's family life is best described as "twisted family history" filled with violence, promiscuity, adultery, divorce, bigamy, poverty, illegitimacy, and plenty of addiction. Hillary's father is said to have run his family "like a drill sergeant mentality that extended to corporal punishment." Easy to see why Hillary was "devoted" to him and understandable as to how she could be so "cold blooded" and dispassionate about love and true marriage.
Yes, Bill is and always has been a WHORNEY, pathetic soul who is addicted to sex! And Hillary has spent her life covering up or battling the press for him. I think Bill Clinton played with his own mind "trying to keep things from Hillary" but deep inside HE knew he could do whatever he wanted and she wasn't going to do a thing about it!
I can't get over his "jogging" shenanigans: He pretends to go out for his jog, has the taxpayers' troopers drive and follow for a block or two, gets a quickie on the road or someone's house, then drives back to the mansion, huffs and puffs into the office/home as if he did a jog! He gives Joggers a bad name!
Hillary and Bill - Quite a goonball pair! .......MzRizz
Yellow Journalism.......2001-06-03
There has never been a marriage more controversial in the American public eye than this dynamic duo. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have been rumored to have questionable personal lives since Bill was the Arkansas governor. While this has certainly been proven true, "Bill and Hillary" acts in the same fashion as "Year of the Rat" by Triplett and Timperlake in that it pulls all the punches and makes connections and assumptions that are iffy at best. While there is no doubt both Bill and Hillary Clinton have been proven to be not- so- faithful to their wedding vows, the idea that Bill engaged in cocaine use and street- side sex with a prostitute could not be based on anything more than hearsay. The accusations are certainly interesting, but much of them seem to be no more than sleazy yellow journalism.
In in-depth look at a partnership of power.......2001-01-05
Christopher Anderson's "Bill and Hillary: The Marriage" provides the reader with an in-depth look at Clinton's and Rodham's pasts, how they came to know each other and how they have schemed together in their rise to power. Indeed, power has always been their ultimate aim. Rather than providing the reader with a psychological analysis of the complex partnership, Anderson aptly describes that power acquisition is the root of all that Clinton and Rodham do. It's what makes their partnership work.
While Clinton's quest for power is reflected by his boyhood meeting with JFK, Rodham's is underscored by her post-law school ambitions. On page 100, Anderson explains Rodham's desire to effect social change at a loftier level, rather than by working at the grassroots levels where one is closest to those in need. "[O]rganizing the poor for community actions to improve their own lives may have short-term benefits for the poor but would never solve their major problems. You need much more than that. You need leadership programs, constitutional doctrines." Rodham also stated that "[t]he only way to make a real difference is to acquire power." Anyone who reads this tyrannical rant and thinks that Rodham will not be running for president in 2004 is grossly mistaken.
Throughout the book, Anderson gives acute attention to Clinton's reckless and violent behavior with women. At times, I felt like I was reading some sort of hardcore porno novel. Strangely, Anderson writes that Rodham was shocked to learn that Clinton had been lying to her throughout 1998 about his affair with Lewinsky. While Anderson shows that Rodham knew much about Clinton's sexual recklessness, he insults the reader's intelligence by suggesting that she was truly shocked about Lewinsky. (I guess that tells us much about the level of intelligence of Clinton's cabinet, which publicly avowed a belief that he did not have "sexual relations" with Lewinsky). Nevertheless, the book reads well and gives a good foundation for why Clinton and Rodham are the way they are.
Nothing new, but a nice survey of a complex relationship.......2000-07-09
Bill and Hillary is an admixture of news stories and biographical bits assembled from other, long-published sources. The title tempts us because it suggests some insights into what must be a very interesting marriage indeed! If you have not read anything on the Clintons' personal lives, this would be a fair place to start. But if you have already surveyed the territory, you will find nothing new. Amazon sells another title, Hillary Clinton, The Inside Story, which is better at shining light on the motives of the parties in this strange marriage.
All of the juicy, gossipy, behind the scenes stories are told without much of an offering of analysis. Even though analysis of someone's marriage from afar would be guess work at best, it would be interesting nevertheless.
Another word of caution, if you are a certified Clinton hater, this will proably not feed your appetite. The writing is pretty level. There is more of a flavor of sadness and even sympathy than persecution.
A look into the dynamics of a relationship........2000-03-24
I bought the book to get an idea of how the Clintons work and how they got where they are. What keeps them going, what keeps them together? I was not dissapointed but I was sadened by the insight. While the tale seems to hit the highlights of their journy together with more honesty than much of what is written about them, it is not spellbinding. I don't know if it the writing or the subject. As the Clinton presidency nears the end we may not have seen the last of their political ambition. It is worth reading in order to understand what drives this ambitious couple.
Product Description
656 pages
Book Description
"It is a distinct treat to recall my meetings with and listening in awe to Glenway Wescott, noted novelist, essayist, pundit, and bon vivant."—Liz Smith, syndicated columnist
As a writer, Glenway Wescott (1901-1987) left behind a series of novels, including The Grandmothers and The Pilgrim Hawk, noted for their remarkable lyricism. As a literary figure, Wescott also became a symbol of his times. Born on a Wisconsin farm in 1901, he associated as a young writer with Hemingway, Stein, and Fitzgerald in 1920s Paris and subsequently was a central figure in New York's artistic and gay communities. Though he couldn't finish a novel after the age of forty-five, he was just as famous as an arts impresario, as a diarist, and for the company he kept: W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Marianne Moore, Somerset Maugham, E. M. Forster, Joseph Campbell, and scores of other luminaries.
In Glenway Wescott Personally, Jerry Rosco chronicles Wescott's long and colorful life, his early fame and later struggles to write, the uniquely privileged and sometimes tortured world of artistic creation. Rosco sensitively and insightfully reveals Wescott's private life, his long relationship with Museum of Modern Art curator Monroe Wheeler, his work with sex researcher Alfred Kinsey that led to breakthrough findings on homosexuality, and his kinship with such influential artists as Jean Cocteau, George Platt-Lynes, and Paul Cadmus.
Customer Reviews:
Take Glenway to the Beach.......2002-06-21
Don't be frightened by the university press imprint: this solid biography isn't a bit stodgy--it's compulsively readable and full of great celebrity and sexual dish. Readers of Continual Lessons, the Wescott diaries Rosco co-edited, will be delighted at the opportunity to find out more about the life and experiences of this important gay figure. Fans of George Platt Lynes's male nudes will be interested to find out more about the photographer's complicated life and some of the men who appeared in his photos. Those who've never heard of Wescott are in for a treat. Glenway Wescott led a fascinating life: he was a beautiful boy wonder in 20s Paris, and later divided his time between literary and gay Manhattan and the idyllic country estate of his wealthy sister-in-law. He and lover Monroe Wheeler had a relationship that spanned seven decades; he shared his lover for years with Lynes; he had lots of lovers on the side; and he had a long involvement with the Kinsey Institute, including having sex on camera for the archives. He also had a famous case of writer's block, but came back stunningly twice: once with a popular bestseller, once with a gem of a novella, The Pilgrim Hawk (rediscovered regularly, most recently by Susan Sontag in The New Yorker). Wescott was a famous raconteur, and this entertaining book includes great memories and anecdotes in his own words--Don't miss the story of how Edmund Wilson dropped a shrimp in Edith Sitwell's hair-do at a cocktail party (p. 155).
A Literature Lover's Picnic.......2002-04-12
Anyone infatuated as an undergraduate or an adult with Hemingway, Stein, Fitzgerald and the other heavyweights of the literary and artistic circles of the first half of the 20th century will frolic through Wescott's biography with glee. It's like peeking through a keyhole into the private lives of E.M. Forster, Christopher Isherwood, Marianne Moore, Jean Cocteau and others through the filter of Wescott's own unusual life and literary struggles. More importantly, it gives access to Wescott -- a masterful writer who has become a best-kept secret and deserves to be reinstated in the context of his talent and his time. The post-WWII Wescott (who didn't write for publication) is revealed here publicly for the first and, perhaps only, time. A very interesting biography that spans some of the most important decades in American literature.
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General
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Bill and Hillary
The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President
The Case Against Hillary Clinton
Hillary's Choice
The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House
