Based on new and revelatory material from Brando’s own private archives, an award-winning film biographer presents a deeply-textured, ambitious, and definitive portrait of the greatest movie actor of the twentieth century, the elusive Marlon Brando, bringing his extraordinarily complex life into view as never before.The most influential movie actor of his era, Marlon Brando changed the way other actors perceived their craft. His approach was natural, honest, and de...

**Entertainment Weekly's BIG FALL BOOKS PREVIEW SelectionBest Book of 2019 -- Publisher's WeeklyBased on new and revelatory material from Brando's own private archives, an award-winning film biographer presents a deeply-textured, ambitious, and definitive portrait of the greatest movie actor of the twentieth century, the elusive Marlon Brando, bringing his extraordinarily complex life into view as never before.

The Day of the Locust meets The Devil in the White City and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in this juicy, untold Hollywood story: an addictive true account of ambition, scandal, intrigue, murder, and the creation of the modern film industry.By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America's new favorite pastime and one of the nation's largest industries. Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence; yet Hollywood's glittering ascend...

New York Times bestselling author of Tinseltown and Bogart offers the first definitive account of the Black Dahlia murder—the most famous unsolved true crime case in American history.The brutal murder of Elizabeth Short—better known as the Black Dahlia—in 1947 has been in the public consciousness for nearly eighty years, yet no serious study of the crime has ever been published.Short has been mischaracterized as a wayward sex work...

New York Times Bestseller • Edgar Award winner for Best Fact CrimeThe Day of the Locust meets The Devil in the White City and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in this juicy, untold Hollywood story: an addictive true tale of ambition, scandal, intrigue, murder, and the creation of the modern film industry.By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America's new favorite pastime, and one of the nation's...

This classic novel by bestselling author William J. Mann features a gay man trying to come to terms with sex, friendship, aging, and falling—and staying—in loveThis stunning slice of gay life at the turn of the millennium introduces thirtysomething Jeff O'Brien. After six years, his lover, Lloyd, has just announced that the passion between them has died. Terrified of ending up alone, Jeff turns his eye toward other men. But the anonymous, impersonal encounters leave...

A gay man who fled his hometown in a cloud of scandal and guilt returns home to his estranged family—and the boy he left behindThe first call is from Wally Day's estranged mother, begging him to come home. The second is from Sebastian Garafolo, a Brown's Mill cop Wally last spoke to when he confessed to having underage sex in the old apple orchard. Today, Garafolo is calling about something else entirely: Wally's cousin Kyle is missing.Twenty years ago, Wall...

Award-winning author William J. Mann blends fact and fiction in this unconventional novel about the nature of celebrityThe Biograph Girl is Florence Lawrence, who gets her first big break in vaudeville as a tiny tot who can whistle like a man. By 1910 she's a legendary movie star, pursued by thousands of rabid fans. Just a few short decades later, she's all but forgotten, reduced to walk-ons at MGM. In 1938 she kills herself by ingesting a lethal dose of ant paste.

From the noted Hollywood biographer and author of The Contender comes this celebration of the great American love story—the romance between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart—capturing its complexity, contradictions, and challenges as never before.InBogie & Bacall, William Mann offers a deep and comprehensive look at Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, and the unlikely love they shared. Mann details their early years—Bogart’s effete upbringing in New Y...

Jeff O'Brien and his friends return in this sequel to The Men from the Boys, William J. Mann's critically acclaimed debut novel about gay love and friendship.Where the Boys Are opens in Manhattan on New Year's Eve, 1999. With the world on the cusp of the new millennium, Jeff O'Brien and his ex-lover Lloyd Griffith are grieving the loss of their friend and mentor David Javitz to AIDS. Desperate to forget, Jeff has become a fixture on the dance floo...

In "Death Valley in '49: An Important Chapter of California Pioneer History," William Lewis Manly delivers a poignant and dramatic account of the harrowing journey of a group of pioneers navigating the treacherous landscape of Death Valley during the California Gold Rush. Written with an engaging narrative style that combines vivid descriptive passages with firsthand observations, Manly's work stands as a crucial testament to the resilience and fortitude of the pioneering spirit. The book ...

The award-winning author presents a provocative, thoroughly modern revisionist biographical history of one of America's greatest and most influential families—the Roosevelts—exposing heretofore unknown family secrets and detailing complex family rivalries with his signature cinematic flair.Drawing on previously hidden historical documents and interviews with the long-silent "illegitimate" branch of the family, William J. Mann paints an elegant, meticulously researc...