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Product Description
This is the book Frank Sinatra failed to stop, the unauthorized biography of one of the most elusive public figures of our time. Celebrated journalist Kitty Kelley spent three years researching government documents (Mafia-related material, wiretaps and secret testimony) and interviewing more than 800 people in Sinatra's life (family, colleagues, law-enforcement officers, personal friends). Fully documented, highly detailed and filled with revealing anecdotes, here is the penetrating story of the explosively controversial and undeniably multi-talented legend who ruled the entertainment industry for more than fifty years.
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First Sentence
On the night of December 22, 1938, two constables from Hackensack, New Jersey, headed for the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs to arrest Frank Sinatra. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
On the night of December 22, 1938, two constables from Hackensack, New Jersey, headed for the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs to arrest Frank Sinatra. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
An awful lot of work obviously went into researching this book - and it provides a good overview of Sinatra's life. However, it soon becomes clear that by only having access to people who disliked Sinatra you get a very one-sided account of the facts. Every fight is only told from the other guy's side, almost every media comment is from a paper that Sinatra had attacked. What one comes away from this book with is that Sinatra was mobbed up, that he was a terrible womanizer, that he had a violent temper, that he was very lonely much of his life, that he had an incredible voice, and that he wasn't a very nice person. None of this is really a startling revelation - is it? As a cultural icon, the whole point of Sinatra was that he did whatever the hell he wanted to all his life - the booze, the broads, the mob, the fights - and he got away with it. It destroyed the rest of them in the end, but Frank walked away without a scratch. When I started reading this I was impressed by the depth of the research, by the end the book struck me as clumsy, one dimensional, and without anything important to say about one probably the biggest star of our times
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
No doubt a lot of what Kelley says is true, but I found myself not caring about much of it. When I want perfect morality and ethics, I usually don't look to the entertainment industry, and by the end of the book I think I learned more about Kelley than about Sinatra.
Not recommended. Check out Donald Clarke's less biased All or Nothing at All, or, for more music, Will Friedwald's book. I borrowed Kelley's book from the library out of respect to Mr. Sinatra -- I didn't want to spend five bucks on this kind of garbage.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
One would not expect a Kitty Kelley book about Frank Sinatra to have any great profundity, but *His Way* stands as a major cultural and social document of our times. Sinatra is one of the most-worshipped gods of our age. His life story shows all over again how much misery goes into "lifestyles of the rich and famous," and how much corruption comes out. Sinatra's origins were unromantic. His mother was a neighborhood abortionist. This was an albatross around young Frank's neck. Symbolic of our age, he grew up to personify the "good life" -- the suave, wealthy, hyper-romantic, carefree, yet blues-ridden one -- in his art, while his life embodied many kinds of evil. His mafia connections are well known and, like other unpleasant details of his legend, the book removes all doubt as to their authenticity. The most remarkable thing about *His Way* is in fact the superb job Kelley does of writing and documenting it. She researches and writes like a seasoned college professor. Like most muckrakers Kelley's truthfulness has been called into question, but the book seems entirely trustworthy, especially at a time so many entertainment deities are revealing themselves as tragically flawed or worse. Sinatra, the king of musical romance, bullied, used, and abused women, including his gentle wife Mia Farrow. The worlds of entertainment, crime and politics came together when Frank and company helped get JFK elected President. Frank was supposedly king of the heap himself, but displayed a pitifully boyish awe toward his fellow rake Kennedy, even after he himself helped to "create" Kennedy as president. *His Way* is a chronicle of an egomaniac who knew no restraints. He cause endless harm to others, then wrote them a check to cover their suffering. The moral of the story (every good book still has one) is that we ought to be more careful in whom we elevate as our heroes and "role models." Even those not fond of Sinatra or his swank big-band genre of music will find the book hard to put down. People of discernment will learn much from it as to why life is the way it is in 1999.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
lies, trivia and gossip from tabloids
First, Kitty Kelley is bad writer. His book has low style, poor language, dreadful structure. If Kelley has not chosen a scandalous theme, nobody read. Second. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Helen Belova
views of sinatra
I have read previous books by Kitty Kelley recomend The Royals and The Family This book tells you Sinatra's Mafia links How he tret people How he bought his position in Life His... Read more
Published 8 months ago by val
book
This book was a true insight in to the real Frank Sinatra just could't put it down.
Would recomend it.
Would recomend it.
Published 8 months ago by sutton
frank sinatra
A great read!For all Frank fans out there a gossipy and fun read about not only Frank but all the stars he mixed with.
Published 8 months ago by Melie
Sinatra biography
A bit difficult to read... at least for a German. I thought it would be more fun but in my view its really clipping together some newspaper. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Susanne Kontouris
great insight into the real Frank Sinatra
fascinating book if you want to know the background and off stage persona of Frank Sinatra. I have been trying to get hold of a copy for years so delighted when there was a kindle... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Annabell
Garbage...........Gutter Queen Kitty does it again!
Any self respecting Sinatra fan should read this book. Why? Because you read the thoughts of a person who totally misunderstands the whole feel of Sinatra. Read more
Published on 9 Mar 1999
An Eye-Opening Biography
This is one revealing book! It goes in great detail about the strong, permenant affect Ava Gardner had on Frank, plus what a strong advocate he was for civil rights. Read more
Published on 30 Jun 1998
Kitty Kelly unleashes her poison pen on Frank Sinatra.
Kelly has a lot of information at her disposal which she crafts
into a story of her own making. Read more
into a story of her own making. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 1996
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