Book description
How has Gay Talese found his subjects? How has he gotten them onto
the page? What drives him to write? These are some of the questions at
the heart of the narrative that combines memory, reflection,
explanation and a satisfying obsession. I his trademark prose -
precise, beautifully crafted, elegant - Talese traces the paths his
passionate interests have made through his life and writing. He talks
about first becoming absorbed in issues of race as a student in
Alabama, about covering the civil rights struggle and about a recent
interracial wedding in Selma. He reflects on the changing American
sexual mores he has written about over the last 50 years, and gives an
incisive examination of the lives of Lorena and John Bobbitt. He talks
about his legendary Esquire profile of Frank Sinatra - judged
by the magazine to be the finest in its long history - and about the
ordinary men and women whose stories led to some of his most memorable
work. And as he delves into the life of a young female Chinese soccer
player, we see his consuming interest in the world in its latest
manifestation. In these and other recollections and stories, he gives
us a fascinating picture of both the serendipity and meticulousness
involved in getting a story, and getting it right.
Candid, humorous, deeply impassioned - a dazzling book about the
nature of writing in one man's life, and of writing itself.
Gay Talese was a reporter for
The New York Times
from 1956 to 1965. Since then he has written for the
Times
,
Esquire
,
The New Yorker
, and other national publications. His books include
The Kingdom and
the Power
,
Honor Thy Father
,
Thy Neighbour's Wife
and
Unto the Sons
. He lives with his wife in New York City.
