Synopses & Reviews
For seven decades Katharine Hepburn played a leading role in the popular culture of the twentieth century - reigning as an admired actress, a beloved movie star, and a treasured icon of the modern American woman. She also remained one of the most private of all the public figures of her time.
In 1983 - at the age of seventy-five, her career cresting - the four-time Academy Award winner opened the door to biographer A. Scott Berg - then thirty-three - and began a special friendship, one that endured to the end of her illustrious life.
From the start, Scott Berg felt that Katharine Hepburn intended his role to be not just that of a friend but also of a chronicler, a confidant who might record for posterity her thoughts and feelings. Over the next twenty years, Kate used their many hours together to reveal all that came to mind, often reflecting on the people and episodes of her past, occasionally on the meaning of life.
Here are the stories from those countless intimate conversations, and much more. In addition to recording heretofore untold biographical details of her entire phenomenal career and her famous relationships with such men as Spencer Tracy and Howard Hughes, Kate Remembered also tells the amusing, often emotional story of one of the most touching friendships in her final years. Scott Berg provides his own memories of Katharine Hepburn offstage - quiet dinners in her town house in New York City, winter swims (she swam, he watched) in the Long Island Sound at Fenwick, her home in Connecticut, weekend visits with family members and dear friends...even some unusual appearances by the likes of Michael Jackson and Warren Beatty. Finally, Kate Remembered discusses the legendary actress's moving farewell, during which her mighty personality surrendered at last to her failing body - all the while remaining true to her courageous character.
Kate Remembered is a book about love and friendship, family and career, Hollywood and Broadway - all punctuated by unforgettable lessons from an extraordinary life.
Review
"Hepburn sounds off plenty...A worthy look at a candid Kate."
People "Engrossing...leave it to Hepburn to make a grand exit." Newsday
"Sharp, funny, and poignant." New York Times
"Intimate, thoughtful, and considerate...an intensely personal book." Salon.com
Review
Remarkable praise for A. Scott Bergand#8217;s Lindbergh and#8220;Bergand#8217;s book is an extraordinary achievement. In his authoritative chronicle, Berg has allowed the inconsistencies, nuances, and tribulations of Lindberghand#8217;s life to speak for themselves without judgment or speculation. In doing so, he has given us the definitive account of a dramatic and disturbing American story.and#8221;--Los Angeles Times Book Review
and#8220;Charles Lindbergh is the ultimate American life, and Bergand#8217;s new biography is the ultimate exploration of that life. In an astonishing biography of a man who personified the future tense, no sentence is overwritten, no passage overwrought.and#8221;--Boston Sunday Globe
and#8220;Bergand#8217;s monumental new biography is a richly detailed and deeply nuanced examination of a historic life in all its complexity. This is falland#8217;s must-read biography.and#8221;--Seattle Post-Intelligencer
and#8220;Berg turns that historic flight into a cogent and thoroughly gripping account that conveys all the magic, danger and courage of the young pilotand#8217;s achievement. A similar narrative prowess informs Bergand#8217;s account of the 1932 kidnapping of Lindberghand#8217;s infant son and the subsequent trial of Hauptmann and#8211; an account that reads, at once, as aand#160; harrowing thriller and a sobering study in the unreckoned consequences of fame.and#8221;--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
and#8220;A superb biography.and#8221;--Time Magazine
and#8220;The most outstanding piece of nonfiction that I have read this year. Berg does a spectacular job of establishing why Lindbergh proves such a powerful icon for the 20th century. A substantial piece of history that illuminates an important figure in world history. Itand#8217;s the kind of book that took almost a decade to create. And itand#8217;s worth it.and#8221;--USA Today
and#8220;Berg brings us about as close as I suspect we will ever get to the man himself.and#8221;--The New York Times Book Review
Review
Praise for Wilson and#160;
and#8220;A thorough, entertaining account of our 28th president . . . [an] excellent biography.and#8221;and#8212;Library Journal (starred review)
and#160;
Rraise for A. Scott Bergand#8217;s Lindbergh
and#8220;Bergand#8217;s book is an extraordinary achievement. In his authoritative chronicle, Berg has allowed the inconsistencies, nuances, and tribulations of Lindberghand#8217;s life to speak for themselves without judgment or speculation. In doing so, he has given us the definitive account of a dramatic and disturbing American story.and#8221;--Los Angeles Times Book Review
and#8220;Charles Lindbergh is the ultimate American life, and Bergand#8217;s new biography is the ultimate exploration of that life. In an astonishing biography of a man who personified the future tense, no sentence is overwritten, no passage overwrought.and#8221;--Boston Sunday Globe
and#8220;Bergand#8217;s monumental new biography is a richly detailed and deeply nuanced examination of a historic life in all its complexity. This is falland#8217;s must-read biography.and#8221;--Seattle Post-Intelligencer
and#8220;Berg turns that historic flight into a cogent and thoroughly gripping account that conveys all the magic, danger and courage of the young pilotand#8217;s achievement. A similar narrative prowess informs Bergand#8217;s account of the 1932 kidnapping of Lindberghand#8217;s infant son and the subsequent trial of Hauptmann and#8211; an account that reads, at once, as aand#160; harrowing thriller and a sobering study in the unreckoned consequences of fame.and#8221;--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Synopsis
The #1 "New York Times" bestseller is "a true gift for anyone who loved and admired the late Katharine Hepburn" ("Chicago Tribune"). "Hepburn sounds off plenty . . . A worthy look at a candid Kate."--"People."
Synopsis
In 1983, Katharine Hepburn met Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer A. Scott Berg. Over the next twenty years he became her confidant, recording for posterity her thoughts and feelings on a remarkable life and career. Here are the candid and surprising stories from those intimate conversations.
Synopsis
In 1983, Katharine Hepburn met Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer A. Scott Berg. Over the next twenty years he became her confidant, recording for posterity her thoughts and feelings on a remarkable life and career. Here are the candid and surprising stories from those intimate conversations.
Synopsis
Longlisted for the 2014 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
and#147;With the prescience that all truly great biographers possess, Berg discovered in Woodrow Wilson a figure who would understand Washingtonand#8217;s current state of affairs.and#8221;and#151;Vanity Fair
and#147;A brilliant biography that still resonates in Washington today.and#8221;and#151;Doris Kearns Goodwin
and#160; From Pulitzer Prizeand#150;winning, #1 New York Timesand#150;bestselling author A. Scott Berg comes the definitiveand#151;and revelatoryand#151;biography of one of the great American figures of modern times.
One hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, and one of the most enigmatic. And now, after more than a decade of research and writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg has completed Wilson--the most personal and penetrating biography ever written about the 28th President.
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of documents in the Wilson Archives, Berg was the first biographer to gain access to two recently-discovered caches of papers belonging to those close to Wilson. From this material, Berg was able to add countless details--even several unknown events--that fill in missing pieces of Wilsonand#8217;s character and cast new light on his entire life.
From the scholar-President who ushered the country through its first great world war to the man of intense passion and turbulence , from the idealist determined to make the world and#147;safe for democracyand#8221; to the stroke-crippled leader whose incapacity and the subterfuges around it were among the centuryand#8217;s greatest secrets, the result is an intimate portrait written with a particularly contemporary point of view and#150; a book at once magisterial and deeply emotional about the whole of Wilsonand#8217;s life, accomplishments, and failings. This is not just Wilson the icon and#150; but Wilson the man.
Synopsis
and#147;With the prescience that all truly great biographers possess, Berg discovered in Woodrow Wilson a figure who would understand Washingtonand#8217;s current state of affairs.and#8221;and#151;Vanity Fair and#160;
From Pulitzer Prizeand#150;winning, #1 New York Timesand#150;bestselling author A. Scott Berg comes the definitiveand#151;and revelatoryand#151;biography of one of the great American figures of modern times.
One hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, and one of the most enigmatic. And now, after more than a decade of research and writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg has completed Wilson--the most personal and penetrating biography ever written about the 28th President.
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of documents in the Wilson Archives, Berg was the first biographer to gain access to two recently-discovered caches of papers belonging to those close to Wilson. From this material, Berg was able to add countless details--even several unknown events--that fill in missing pieces of Wilsonand#8217;s character and cast new light on his entire life.
From the scholar-President who ushered the country through its first great world war to the man of intense passion and turbulence , from the idealist determined to make the world and#147;safe for democracyand#8221; to the stroke-crippled leader whose incapacity and the subterfuges around it were among the centuryand#8217;s greatest secrets, the result is an intimate portrait written with a particularly contemporary point of view and#150; a book at once magisterial and deeply emotional about the whole of Wilsonand#8217;s life, accomplishments, and failings. This is not just Wilson the icon and#150; but Wilson the man.
About the Author
A. Scott Berg is the author of four bestselling biographies: Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, winner of the National Book Award; Goldwyn; Lindbergh, winner of the Pulitzer Prize; and Kate Remembered. He lives in Los Angeles.