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Title: J. D. Salinger: A Life

Author: Kenneth Slawenski

Narrator: Norman Dietz

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-28-11

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 23 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

One of the most popular and mysterious figures in American literary history, J. D. Salinger eluded fans and journalists for most of his life. Now comes a new biography that Peter Ackroyd in the Times of London calls "energetic and magnificently researched" - a book from which "a true picture of Salinger emerges".

Filled with new information and revelations garnered from countless interviews, letters, and public records, J. D. Salinger: A Life presents an extraordinary life that spanned nearly the entire 20th century. Kenneth Slawenski explores Salinger's privileged youth, long obscured by misrepresentation and rumor, revealing the brilliant, sarcastic, vulnerable son of a disapproving father and doting mother and his entrance into a social world where Gloria Vanderbilt dismissively referred to him as "a Jewish boy from New York".

Here too are accounts of Salinger's first broken heart - Eugene O'Neill's daughter, Oona, left him for the much older Charlie Chaplin - and the devastating World War II service of which he never spoke, and which haunted him forever.

J. D. Salinger features all the dazzle of this author's early writing successes, his dramatic encounters with luminaries from Ernest Hemingway to Laurence Olivier to Elia Kazan, his surprising office intrigues with famous New Yorker editors and writers, and the stunning triumph of The Catcher in the Rye, which would both make him world-famous and hasten his retreat into the hills of New Hampshire.

Whether it's revealing the facts of his hasty, short-lived first marriage or his lifelong commitment to Eastern religion, which would dictate his attitudes toward sex, nutrition, solitude, and creativity, J. D. Salinger is this unique author's unforgettable story in full - one that no lover of literature can afford to miss.

Critic Reviews:

"Slawenski's life of Salinger makes at least speculative sense of a seemingly unknowable story, one that has beguiled readers for more than 50 years. That alone makes his book must reading." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Wonderful literary biography

This is a thoughtful, well-written literary biography of one of the most beloved American writers of the 20th century. The book is especially strong on Salinger's service in World War II, which the author sees as a key element in explaining Salinger's later short stories as well as his masterpiece, the novel, The Catcher in the Rye.

J.D. Salinger was a complex man and a complex writer and Slawenski does an excellent job of explaining the man's life and work. I was hoping to learn what happened to the manuscripts Salinger worked on during the last thirty years or so of his life, when he lived in seclusion and didn't publish anything although supposedly he wrote every day. Apparently no no knows what happened to the manuscripts after Salinger's death. This will probably remain a literary mystery and in no way detracts from Slawenski's fine biography, Highly recommended.

... always a huge fan of Salinger's writings and so enjoyed this expose of his personal life and trials

I was always a huge fan of Salinger's writings and so enjoyed this expose of his personal life and trials. Thank you.

CATCHER CAUGHT

Kenneth Slawenski's biography of Salinger is a pleasure to read and is a much needed addition to scholarly studies on J. D.

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Title: The Killer Within

Subtitle: In the Company of Monsters

Author: Philip Carlo

Narrator: Kent Bateman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-06-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

In researching his acclaimed true-crime books, Philip Carlo interviewed some of the most infamous criminals and killers of our times in prisons and on death rows throughout the country. He was able to forge trusting relationships with his subjects, enabling him to extract the facts behind their monstrous acts and identify what motivated them to commit their horrific crimes.

Carlos investigative achievements are remarkable, but what wasnt known to his readers is that, while working on The Ice Man, he learned he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terminal illness that causes all of the muscles in the body to atrophy over time. Suddenly, after years of penetrating the minds of killers, Carlo found himself being pursued by the grim reaper. But rather than lying down and succumbing to the disease, Carlo continued to work, his books still getting published to both critical and commercial acclaim.

In The Killer Within, Carlo documents his difficult experiences with ALS and explains how he managed to continue writing prodigiously in the face of adversity. The Killer Within is a gripping, suspenseful book that pulls the listener into the netherworld of Mafia bosses, Mafia hit men, and serial killers, as well as the hard realities of dealing with a fatal disease.

Critic Reviews:

An inspiring testament to what the human mind can accomplish in the wake of devastating change. A brave psychological exploration of a writers craft and terminal illness. (Kirkus Reviews)

Carlos knack for anecdote spinning and his own heartbreaking, yet ennobling, confrontation with ALS results in a unique and spellbinding memoir. (Booklist)

Its fascinating to see how he copes day to day with his illness as well bringing his experiences to the fore. Its a brave offering from the author and one that will hopefully get the readers to understand things a little clearer. (Falcata Times)

Members Reviews:

Deceptive

The title and book sample is very deceptive. It uses the names of serial killers and insinuates that the book will be about interviews the author has conducted with them; whereas in actuality the book is just a bio about the author's disease. I am sorry that he became sick, but I believe the book should not deceive the reader as to its contents.

self indulgent

How right Laura. I too was mislead by this book. The references to his work are trite and the book was self indulgent and self protective. And I can speak from experience. I too have neuromuscular disease. I wanted to demand a refund based completely on the synopsis but ALS is mentioned in the expanded synopsis. My bad for not reading further. Caveat Emptor. Your bad Mr. Carlo is, the book.

MISLEADING!!!

Would you try another book from Philip Carlo and/or Kent Bateman?

THIS book is NOT about what you think its about!! its about a deadly disease the author has. wasted my money and didn't even listen to the book it was horrible.

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Title: The Modern Scholar: The Life and Times of Mark Twain

Author: Michael Shelden

Narrator: Michael Shelden

Format: Original Recording

Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-13-10

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 28 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Professor of English at Indiana State University and the author of the literary biography Mark Twain: Man in White, Michael Shelden is the perfect candidate to lead this series of lectures on one of the most importantand most influentialof all American authors. From Twains early history through his landmark achievements and the defining moments of his extraordinary life, Shelden imparts a learned understanding of both the man and his astounding body of work.

Members Reviews:

Flat delivery, great content

This is by far one of the more satisfying biographical treatments of Mark Twain available on Audible. Michael Shelden relates the high points of Twains life and career, and along the way provides passionate and sometimes moving analyses of his major works.

Unfortunately his delivery is flat, so much so that it took me a long time to get around to listening to it all the way through. What I found is that his voice grew on me, and I was able to focus on the content and stop thinking about the unemotional (and sometimes repetitive) way it was presented.

Shelden knows what hes talking about. He wrote one of the best books available about the later years of Mark Twain, Man in White, also available on Audible (and fortunately with a better narrator who is able to do justice to the book). Despite Sheldens weakness as a speaker, this is definitely worth a listen.

INSTRUCTIVE OVERVIEW OF LIFE AND WORK

These 14 half-hour talks are presented in quiet way that lets the words and ideas speak for themselves.

Highly recommended to those who want to know more about this important American author.

perfect

What made the experience of listening to The Modern Scholar: The Life and Times of Mark Twain the most enjoyable?

Felt like the author knew him and is just telling about a friend.

What did you like best about this story?

Followed a distinct timeline.

Any additional comments?

The author/performer is pretty soft spoken, but it was alright. Just made me pay that much more attention.

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Title: Let's Take the Long Way Home

Subtitle: A Memoir of Friendship

Author: Gail Caldwell

Narrator: Joyce Bean

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-10-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 156 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

In Let's Take the Long Way Home, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gail Caldwell offers a powerful and moving memoir about her coming-of-age in mid-life and her extraordinary friendship with Caroline Knapp, the author of Drinking: A Love Story.

In her younger years, Caldwell defined herself by rebellion and independence, a passion for books, and an aversion to intimacy and a distrust of others. Then, while living in Cambridge in her early 40s, Caldwell adopted a rambunctious puppy named Clementine. On one of their bucolic walks, she met Caroline and her dog, Lucille, and both women's lives changed forever.

Though they are more different than alike, these two fiercely private, independent women quickly relax into a friendship more profound than either of them expected, a friendship that will thrive on their shared secrets, including parallel struggles with alcoholism and loneliness. They grow increasingly inseparable until, in 2003, Caroline is diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer.

In her signature exquisite prose, Caldwell mines the deepest levels of devotion and grief in this wise and affecting account about losing her best friend. Let's Take the Long Way Home is also a celebration of life and all the little moments worth cherishing - and affirms why Gail Caldwell is rightly praised as one of our bravest and most honest literary voices.

Editorial Reviews:

Former chief book critic for The Boston Globe, Pulitzer Prize-winner Gail Caldwell's second foray into the terrain of memoir demonstrates once again that she is as capable of writing a book as she is of reading one. Instead of the Texas of her youth, this time Caldwell is firmly ensconced in the scenery of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she regularly walks her Samoyed, Clemetine. Let's Take the Long Way Home is the story of her connection with the dog, but mainly her connection with a fellow canine enthusiast, Caroline Knapp, former columnist for the Boston Pheonix and author of the memoir Drinking: A Love Story, who died of cancer in 2002.

Narrating this touching testimony of the friendship between two stubborn ladies and their pets is Joyce Bean, who has given voice to over a hundred audiobooks and also has directed the recording of dozens more. Bean blends a beautiful combination of Amarillo twang to the vowels and Bostonite grinding to the consonants, capturing Caldwell's delicate story with a uniquely dignified grace that does not give quarter to the sugary sentimentality of so many tales in this genre.

The senior member of the friendship by 10 years, Caldwell still has a lot to learn from Knapp. As they spent a great deal of time outdoors, either walking the dogs or training to row down the river, both women overcome personal demons to let in the light of the other. Both journalists, both alcoholics, both lonely dog lovers, Caldwell charts the little differences between them that enriched their extraordinary friendship. This book is a real and straightforward treatment of grief, put into proper perspective as a situation of personal growth and memory through the voice work of Joyce Bean, who keeps both feet on the ground in a tone that does justice to Caldwell's deeply honest reflections.

Critic Reviews:

Stunning...a book of such crystalline truth that it makes the heart ache.

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Title: Essays

Author: Wallace Shawn

Narrator: Wallace Shawn

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-20-10

Publisher: Haymarket Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Whether writing about the genesis of his plays, such as Aunt Dan and Lemon; discussing how the privileged world of arts and letters takes for granted the work of the unobtrusives", the people who serve our food and deliver our mail; or describing his upbringing in the sheltered world of Manhattans cultural elite, Shawn reveals a unique ability to step back from the appearance of things to explore their deeper social meanings. He grasps contradictions, even when unpleasant, and challenges us to look, as he does, at our own behavior in a more honest light. He also finds the pathos in the political and personal challenges of everyday life.

Critic Reviews:

Full of what you might call conversation starters: tricky propositions about morality... politics, privilege, runaway nationalist fantasies, collective guilt, and art as a force for change (or not)...Its a treat to hear him speak his curious mind. (O Magazine)

Wally Shawns essays are both powerful and riveting. How rare to encounter someone willing to question the assumptions of class and the disparity of wealth that grows wider every year in this country. To have such a gentle and incisive soul willing to say what others may be afraid to is considerably refreshing. (Michael Moore)

Wallace Shawn is a bracing antidote to the op-ed dreariness of political and artistic journalism in the West. He takes you back to the days when intellectuals had the wit and concentration to formulate great questions - and to make the reader want to answer them. (David Hare, playwright)

Members Reviews:

A disappointment on two counts.

Like probably a lot of people, I know Wallace Shawn best from his roles in "My Dinner with André" and "Princess Bride". I've never seen one of his plays, and although I suppose I must have read one or more of the essays that originally appeared in "The Nation" I don't remember them. That should have tipped me off that the essays are, in fact, pretty unmemorable. I was hoping for more wit and play of intellect, but Wallace Shawn is basically a semi-intellectual: he knows his way around the neighborhood of ideas but hasn't built many original ones. This is abundantly clear in the interview with a genuine intellectual, Noam Chomsky, that is included here, the best thing in the book I'd say: even if you loathe Chomsky's politics you have to concede his brilliance in marshalling evidence and putting together an argument. Shawn, in contrast, stays at the level of generalities in most of these pieces.

Second, even if you're a huge fan of Shawn you might be better off with the printed version of the book. Unless you have excellent hearing, this is not an audiobook for the car or anyplace with much background noise: Shawn's dynamic range goes way up and down, and if you set a volume that won't hurt your ears during his forceful passages you're likely to miss half of a sentence when he drops back to near a whisper.

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Title: Mark Twain: Man in White

Subtitle: The Grand Adventure of His Final Years

Author: Michael Shelden

Narrator: Andrew Garman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-09-10

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 68 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Shelden illuminates Mark Twains twilight years in this brilliant account of the legendary authors life. Drawing heavily on Twains own letters and journals, Mark Twain: Man in White recounts both Twains private family experiences and his larger-than-life public image.

Critic Reviews:

"Here is a well-researched book for all Twainiacs as well as those coming to the subject's late years for the first time." (Publishers Weekly)

"[Twain's] wit ultimately reflects personal resilience in the face of financial reverses and family tragedy. Even on his deathbed, Twain rallies to bid farewell with wisecracks. Impressive scholarship delivers the authentic accents of a truly American voice." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Fantastic book

Shelden's book about the last period of Mark Twain's life is one of the best books about Twain I've ever read. Incidents that are often reduced to summary sentences (like the burglary of Twain's home Stormfield) are here given full (and exciting) narrative treatment. The people surrounding Twain, usually treated as second-class citizens or even footnotes, emerge as living people: his surviving daughters, Clara and Jean; his secretary Isabel Lyon; his financial champion Henry Rogers; even the two men who break into Stormfield, only to flee in a hail of gunfire. (They were later caught and tried, and Twain testified at the trial.)

Shelden goes to great lengths to counter the image of Twain as a bitter and isolated old man. This was no King Lear, raging at the gods in broken grandeur. Yes, there were dark moments in Twain's writing, and they grew darker as he grew older, and Shelden takes it into account; but he also traces Twain's movements and interactions in great detail: and Twain was a man who, to the end of his life, was ALWAYS moving and interacting. Shelden also gains perspective by comparing some of these darker writings to similar attitudes expressed throughout Twain's life. The contrast isn't so much between Twain the young and happy humorist and Twain the old and bitter philosopher; it's between Twain the life-long bitter philosopher and Twain the convivial host, cat-lover, and incorrigible practical joker.

Andrew Garman's narration is excellent. I highly recommend the book.

My only regret is that one of the loveliest images in the published book didn't, and couldn't, make it into the audiobook. The book includes a photograph of Twain on Rogers' yacht -- he actually did a fair amount of sailing with Rogers in those last years -- teeth clamped down on a cigar, bowler hat on head, grinning like a monkey. Some misanthrope.

At last, a biography that captures Mark Twain's spirit

What did you love best about Mark Twain: Man in White?

I've read much by and about Twain, but I laughed out loud at Twain's comments more with this book than any other about him--even think it's better than Mark Twain's autobiographies. Perhaps I could have appreciated them more if I had read Michaell Sheldon's book first, since this book provides the back stories for Twain's autobiography.

What did you like best about this story?

One of the liveliest biographies I've ever read. It's as if I know what Mark Twain was really was like after reading this.

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Title: Contested Will

Subtitle: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Author: James Shapiro

Narrator: Wanda McCaddon

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 04-06-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 132 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

For nearly two centuries, the authorship of William Shakespeare's plays has been challenged by writers and artists as diverse as Sigmund Freud, Mark Twain, Henry James, Helen Keller, Orson Welles, Malcolm X, and Sir Derek Jacobi. How could a young man from rural Warwickshire, lacking a university education, write some of the greatest works in the English language? How do we explain the seemingly unbridgeable gap between Shakespeare's life and works?

Contested Will unravels the mystery of Shakespeare's authorship, retracing why and when doubts first arose, what's at stake in the controversy for how we value Shakespeare's achievement, and why, in the end, there can be no doubt about who wrote the plays.

Critic Reviews:

A thorough, engaging work. (Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

Somewhat Surprised and very pleased

I was really interested in the Shakespeare Authorship controversy and was looking fowarard to finding out more about William Devere. This book presents a very thorough and balanced position that gave me a lot to consider that the question is far from the black and white case that I once thought it was. The narrator is absolutely the best I have ever heard (imho)on an audio book, I would pay money to listen to her reading the telephone directory

The History of the Debate

The question of the Shakespearean "authorship problem" is addressed in a rather unique way here. The author comes right out and tells you that he believes in the idea that Shakespeare wrote his own works, but that the target of the book is instead to present a history of the debate itself, letting the very nature of the debate reveal its own merits and flaws. The cases for Sir Francis Bacon and Edward de Vere are examined in depth, being representative of many of the other cases for alternate identity. The opinions of notables such as Sigmund Freud, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Henry James, and many others are spotlighted and, in many cases, skewered as being ridiculous and unfounded. And yet, at the same time, the case for the Bard seems ever stacked against him due to a lack of supporting evidence and the ever-widening gap between what we know about him and what is revealed in his works. As a result, the process of how the problem has evolved over the course of time is as interesting as the problem itself.

This book is easily accessible for both the casual reader as well as the scholarly-minded, so the curious at every level will have little difficulty taking it all in and walking away with more than they might have expected.

Excellent, if long winded

Many have questioned whether Shakespeare could have written what it is claimed that he wrote. The book does an excellent job of laying out how these arguments came to be. It also does an excellent job of refuting them. The book is well read. I would have given it 4 stars had it not been so long-winded. The author makes a point, then makes it again, and again, and again.... It is probably a bit better suited for the scholar. Still, worth a purchase for those intersted in such things.

Expert

The author is obviously an expert in the topic. The book is long-winded, true, but I learned a lot about the history of the debate. In the end, I was convinced by Shapiro's even reasoning and converted to his way of thinking about who wrote the works of Shakespeare.

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Title: A Walk in the Woods

Author: Bill Bryson

Narrator: Bill Bryson

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-01-10

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 74 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

The Appalachian Trail covers 14 states, and over 2,000 miles. It stretches along the East Coast of the United States, from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. It is famous for being the longest continuous footpath in the world. (Compare this with the Pennine Way, which is a mere 250 miles long.) It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas - 'redneck' country - Moonshine, Lil Abner, 'Theres bears in them thar hills.' Remember the film Deliverance?

God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake this gruelling hike. Perhaps it was just a long-held ambition to lose weight: he has lost two stone so far. As he recently wrote from the trail to his publisher: Speaking of vigorous exercise, boy have I just had some. Maine was a bitch. I want you to come back and walk it with me so that when you die if you go to hell you will be able to say: Call this hell? Try walking across Maine in August.'"

Reared in the tradition of Mark Twain, James Thurber, and S.J. Perelman, Bryson used his many years in Britain to soak up a peculiarly English sense of irony and humour and to hone a laugh-out-loud style that is uniquely, hilariously, his own.

Members Reviews:

Thoroughly enjoyable

The first third of this story had me laughing so hard I cried. I enjoyed the last third very much too. It lost my attention somewhat in the middle though when the story, and Bryson literally, got off track. Even so I would thoroughly recommend it. Bryson's voice, reading his own story, is such a pleasure to listen to.

Great Fun

As Bill Bryson is a favourite author I looked forward to hearing him read his own works. What a delight it is to listen to his gentle voice as he and Katz plod through primeval woods in their effort to be less like cupcakes. I listen to audio books whilst walking for exercise and could walk for hours being entertained by Bryson's wonderful sense of humour and irony. Highly recommended.

inspiring

I love Bryson's work and this is no exception. I listened to it while walking and now yearn to go hiking.

Feels like a friend telling you a story

Really good when the author narrates his own story wit pace and charm makes it an experience to remember great

Author Narration

I disagree with the previous reviewer who didn't approve of Bill Bryson's narration. I find that I prefer it when Bill narrates his books, especially A Walk in the Woods as he is more able than any to get across the real feelings he experienced on his adventure. For a travel book like this one that has to count for something.

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Title: Christopher and His Kind

Author: Christopher Isherwood

Narrator: James Clamp

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-07-09

Publisher: HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 61 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Christopher and His Kind covers the most memorable 10 years in the writer's life, from 1929, when Isherwood left England to spend a week in Berlin and decided to stay there indefinitely, to 1939, when he arrived in America. When the book was published in 1976, readers were deeply impressed by the courageous candor with which he describes his life in gay Berlin of the 1930s and his struggles to save his companion, Heinz, from the Nazis.

An engrossing and dramatic story, and a fascinating glimpse into a little-known world, Christopher and His Kind remains a classic in gay liberation literature and one of Isherwood's greatest achievements.

Critic Reviews:

"Indispensable for admirers of this truly masterly writer." (

The New York Times Book Review)"Isherwood freely discusses a dimension of his experience previously repressed in his fiction, his homosexuality. And in telling the truth about himself, he ultimately transcends the limits of autobiography to write what is, in effect, another novel." (

The Washington Post)"The best prose writer in English...The later Isherwood is even better than the early cameraman." (Gore Vidal)

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: Robert Altman

Subtitle: The Oral Biography

Author: Mitchell Zuckoff

Narrator: Meryl Streep, Warren Beatty, Tim Robbins, Julianne Moore, Paul Newman, Julie Christie, Elliott Gould, Martin Scorsese, Cher

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-30-09

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

His outsized life and unique career are revealed as never before: here are the words of his family and friends, and a few enemies, as well as the agents, writers, crew members, producers, and stars who worked with him, including Meryl Streep, Warren Beatty, Tim Robbins, Julianne Moore, Paul Newman, Julie Christie, Elliott Gould, Martin Scorsese, Robin Williams, Cher, and many others. There is even Altman himself, in the form of his exclusive last interviews.

After an all-American boyhood in Kansas City, a stint flying bombers through enemy fire in World War II, and jobs ranging from dog-tattoo entrepreneur to television director, Robert Altman burst onto the scene in 1970 with the movie M*A*S*H. He revolutionized American filmmaking, and, in a decade, produced masterpieces at an astonishing pace: McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, The Long Goodbye, 3 Women, and, of course, Nashville. Then, after a period of disillusionment with Hollywood - as well as Hollywood's disillusionment with him - he reinvented himself with a bold new set of masterworks: The Player, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. Finally, just before the release of the last of his nearly 40 movies, A Prairie Home Companion, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement from the Academy, which had snubbed him for so many years.

Mitchell Zuckoff - who was working with Altman on his memoirs before he died - weaves Altman's final interviews, an incredible cast of voices, and contemporary reviews and news accounts, into a riveting tale of an extraordinary life. Here are a series of revelations that force us to reevaluate Altman as a man and an artist.

Critic Reviews:

A brilliantly researched, near-cinematic evocation. . . . Altman never gave up creating his cinematic portraits of people on the marginscon artists, prostitutes, gamblers, theives, clowns, movie executivesif only to shed light on the falsity behind his countrys seemingly indefatigable, desperate pursuit of success. (The New Yorker)

Scrupulously intelligent and entertaining. . . . Noisy, funny, slightly ill considered, a bit chaotic, and wholly believeable. In short, Altmanesque. (The New York Times Book Review)

I just now put [Robert Altman] down feeling heartbroken but happily and deeply inspired. . . . Wonderful. (Wes Anderson)

Members Reviews:

Thank You

Given what I do for a living/with my life, this feels like the most significantly helpful and meaningful biography of a filmmaker I've ever experience. Mr. Altman's work has had a profound effect on me and now this celebration of his life and work has, too.

Amazing altman

This book made you feel like you knew Bob Altman...the first big movie, the wives, the genius, the alcohol and pot. The narration is brillliant. Highly recommended.