A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.91 (771 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1439194068 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 1056 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-02-02 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Demille, Preston Sturges, set against the times—the Depression, the New Deal, the rise of the unions, the advent of World War II and a fast-changing, coming-of-age motion picture industry.And at the heart of the book, Stanwyck herself—her strengths, her fears, her frailties, losses, and desires—how she made use of the darkness in her soul, transforming herself from shunned outsider into one of Hollywood’s most revered screen actresses.Fifteen years in the making—and written with full access to Stanwyck’s family, friends, colleagues and never-before-seen letters, journals, and photographs. With 274 photographs, many published for the first time.. “860 glittering pages” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times): The first volume of the full-scale astonishing life of one of our greatest screen actresses; her work, her world, her Hollywood through an American century.Frank Capra called her, “The greatest emotional actress the screen has yet known.” Now Victoria Wilson gives us the first volume of the rich, complex life of Barbara Stanwyck, an actress whose
Michael Korda on A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 By Victoria Wilson
Kathleen Chamberlain said Like a Textual Hoarder's House .. Writing a readable yet academically respectable biography is no easy task, so I admire anyone who even makes the attempt. But unfortunately, an "attempt" is all that _A Life of Barbara Stanwyck_ is. Despite some interesting revelations, Wilson's biography is repetitive, padded with tangents, choppy in both style and organization, unanalyzed, and sometimes poorly-sourced.Other Amazon reviewers have covered the book's problems with editing, style, focus, and irrelevant content, so I won't rehash those issues. I want to concentrate on two other serious difficulties:1. Insufficient context. This criticism may. Teresa Miller said Missed Opportunities. First of all, the author's dedication and respect for her subject, the incredible Barbara Stanwyck, is obvious, and I want to commend her for that. What confounds me is the careless editing of the book, especially since the author is such a respected editor herself and this book was published by S & S. I agree with several of the earlier reviews--that for some reason the book struggles to maintain its focus on Stanwyck herself, getting side-tracked by overly detailed backstory about directors, writers, other actors. This often leads to awkward transitions from section to section that interrupt the momentu. "An encyclopedia as well as a biography - a disappointment" according to Douglas M. There is no doubt that the long awaited biography of Barbara Stanwyck will be the benchmark in the future for any reference to the actress. It is an enormous book with meticulous research and comprehensive information but strictly as a biography it has some serious flaws. The author has chosen to "record the facts" which is admirable in itself, leaving the reader generally to draw conclusions, but the offset is the text is very dry and the tone somewhat detached. There is not even a Foreword in which the author gives a clue to her own feelings about Stanwyck.It may be that given this was a 15 year effort,