Mark Clark

Beautiful outstanding work

Revisado: 09-11-24

Sally Field is not only a brilliant actress, but she is also an exquisite writer. This is a fascinating and heartbreaking memoir.

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Fascinating history

Revisado: 02-26-24

This book illuminates the difficult origins of medical techniques and knowledge we now take for granted. A gripping story well told.

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Incisive and revelatory

Revisado: 11-27-23

Brilliant expose about the cult of the Musk myth and the effect his ineptitude had on Twitter

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Hagiography not biography

Revisado: 11-22-22

The author did an admirable job unearthing the story of Millicent Patrick, but seems averse to seeing her as anything but a great artist who was was denied proper credit for her work on Creature from the Black Lagoon. O’Meara shows clearly that Patrick derived her greatest joy not from her art, as the author repeatedly insists, but from being a socialite and an admired physical beauty. Patrick was a talented artist, but during her long life she worked for only 2 years at Disney 1939-1941 and a decade later 2 years as a freelancer at Universal. The reason for her departure from Disney is never explained, nor is the reason she stopped working as an artist in film for 10 years between these gigs. After Disney she worked as a model and background actor until 1951 when she caught the eye of Universal Studios makeup head Bud Westmore and was hired as a freelance artist. O’Meara documents numerous examples of Patrick lying about herself and her accomplishments, but doesn’t explore the implications of this while gleefully denigrating Westmore for the same character flaw. After 1953 Patrick never pursued any kind of professional artistic endeavor and was, according to O’Meara, content being the social centerpiece in the lives of the wealthy men who pursued her. The author is unwilling to see Patrick as anything but a pioneering role model even though O’Meara’s research shows that art was never the driving force in Patrick’s life.

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Terrific bio of a great film

Revisado: 08-22-22

One of the best “making of” biographies ever written and one of Audible’s best performed audiobooks. Great telling of a great story.

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Another great book from Mark Harris

Revisado: 11-16-21

Mark Harris again knocks it out of the park with this fabulous biography of the great Mike Nichols. A complete life story in every respect, from his lonely childhood as a Russian immigrant to his fame as an innovative sketch performer, actor and director. A genius who was all too human, both in his early fame and later struggles. Highly recommended.

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Boone the man is here in this great bio

Revisado: 03-16-21

Morgan dissolves the legend and brings Boone to life as a flawed but brilliant human being. His love of nature and Native Americans drove him deeper into the wilderness than most. His calm, gentle courage enabled him to face danger and personal tragedy. People felt safe following him and those who followed would eventually ruin the wildernesses Boone loved so much and therein lies the tragic irony of his life. This wonderful biography makes clear that this very civilized man’s love of nature and pursuit of the unknown was much more complex and compelling than the legend could allow.

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Author's blindspots mar this book

Revisado: 03-28-17

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I enjoy Ed Ward's NPR pieces about little known rock performers very much, but significant omissions and biases keep this from being an authoritative history of rock. This book purports to cover 1920-1963, but the author skips rather quickly from 1920 to about 1950 with only brief mentions of important artists like Louis Jordan and Bob Wills. He then gives short shrift to Bill Haley whose important role in the evolution of early rock, predates Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Elvis. Ed Ward is evenhanded in his approach to other performers here, but he is not only outright derisive of Haley ("his ridiculous spit curl") but worse, he perpetuates the uniquely American myth that Haley was an insignificant anomaly.

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