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Original Essays | October 18, 2009

Victoria Hislop: IMG From Leprosy to Lorca — Strange Inspiration

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My first novel, The Island, was inspired by a chance visit to a tiny island leper colony off the coast of Greece on our summer holiday. It was a... Continue »
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Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob

by Matt Birkbeck

Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob Cover

ISBN13: 9780061450662
ISBN10: 0061450669
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Sammy Davis Jr. lived a storied life. Adored by millions over a six-decade-long career, he was considered an entertainment icon and a national treasure. But despite lifetime earnings that topped $50 million, Sammy died in 1990 near bankruptcy. His estate was declared insolvent, and there was no possibility of itever using Sammy's name or likeness again. It was as if Sammy had never existed.

Years later his wife, Altovise, a once-vivacious woman and heir to one of the greatest entertainment legacies of the twentieth century, was living in poverty, and with nowhere else to go, she turned to a former federal prosecutor, Albert "Sonny" Murray, to make one last attempt to resolve Sammy's debts, restore his estate, and revive his legacy. For seven years Sonny probed Sammy's life to understand how someone of great notoriety and wealth could have lost everything, and in the process he came to understand Sammy as a man whose complexity makes for a riveting work of celebrity biography as cultural history.

Matt Birkbeck's serious work of investigative journalism unveils the extraordinary story of an international celebrity at the center of a confluence of entertainment, politics, and organized crime, and shows how even Sammy's outsized talent couldn't save him from himself.

Synopsis:

From new information detailing his connections to the mob to his deviant sexual preferences, this work of serious investigative journalism shows how even Sammy Davis Jr.'s outsize talent couldn't save him from himself. 8-page b&w insert.

Synopsis:

A serious work of investigative journalism that unveils the extraordinary story of an international celebrity at the center of a confluence of entertainment, politics, and organized crime, and demonstrates how even Sammy Davis Jr.'s outsized talent couldn't save him from himself.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Kevhine, December 14, 2008 (view all comments by Kevhine)
I saw the New York Times review, which called this book "sensational," and after reading I have to agree.
This is not your "average" biography. Instead its an investigative biography that successfully pulls down the many layers of Sammy's life, layers I never even knew existed, to explain why Sammy died $15 million in debt and why his legacy remains invisible. To tell the story, the author Matt Birkbeck focuses on the efforts of Sonny Murray, a former federal prosecutor hired by Sammy's poverty stricken widown to make Sammy's estate right. It's a great story vehicle, as this page turner reads like a great mystery novel, with each chapter giving us more and more insight into the remarkable yet very tragic life of Sammy and all his connections, good and bad. There's so much information, and such great storytelling, I want to read the book again. Safe to say this was one of the best books I read this year, and one I highly recommend.
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Daniel Thompson, December 1, 2008 (view all comments by Daniel Thompson)
The book sheds light on much of his business dealings, including his ties with various organized crime schemes. It also attempts to show a darker side of the man only hinted at or glossed over in other biographies. It does this however by focusing on the actions of a lawyer representing his wife's interest in the estate. By using this approach the book often lapses into multiple pages of information irrelevant to Sammy Davis, focusing on the lawyers troubled relationship with his father. By using unnamed sources and innuendo the book fails to give reliable insight into the man.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780061450662
Subtitle:
Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob
Author:
Birkbeck, Matt
Author:
by Matthew Birkbeck
Author:
Birkbeck, Matthew
Publisher:
Amistad Press
Subject:
Entertainment & Performing Arts - General
Subject:
Entertainers -- United States.
Subject:
African American entertainers
Publication Date:
September 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
280
Dimensions:
926x658x98 112
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