Goddess - by Anthony Summers (Paperback)

About the Book

The definitive biography of one of America's brightest stars
Hers was a brief life that still fascinates the world. Marilyn Monroe was born in obscurity and deprivation, and rose to become a legend of her century, a great actress, and a lover of the most famous men in America--only to die young and under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Anthony Summers interviewed more than six hundred people, laying bare the truths--sometimes funny, often sad--about this brilliant, troubled woman. The first to gain access to the files of Monroe's last psychiatrist, Summers uses the documents toexplain her tangled psyche and her dangerous addiction to medications. He establishes, after years of mere rumor, that President Kennedy and his brother Robert were both intimately involved with Monroe in life--and in covering up the circumstances of her death.

Book Synopsis

The definitive biography of one of America's brightest stars
Hers was a brief life that still fascinates the world. Marilyn Monroe was born in obscurity and deprivation, and rose to become a legend of her century, a great actress, and a lover of the most famous men in America--only to die young and under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Anthony Summers interviewed more than six hundred people, laying bare the truths--sometimes funny, often sad--about this brilliant, troubled woman. The first to gain access to the files of Monroe's last psychiatrist, Summers uses the documents toexplain her tangled psyche and her dangerous addiction to medications. He establishes, after years of mere rumor, that President Kennedy and his brother Robert were both intimately involved with Monroe in life--and in covering up the circumstances of her death.

Review Quotes

"A remarkable performance . . . The ghost of Marilyn Monroe cries out in these pages." --The New York Times "Convincing evidence of a crude but effective cover-up which was designed to protect Robert Kennedy." --The Times Literary Supplement
"I knew and admired Marilyn's husband Arthur Miller. . . . [Marilyn] was a classic example of borderline personality disorder, filled with despair, terror, and rage . . . an eternal damaged child. . . . She was a genius, a sorceress who could stimulate the world's sexuality and still seem innocent, turn on a light and become 'Marilyn Monroe.' And she has become eternal. This is the most believable, useful book of all the books about her." --Harvey Wasserman, former professor of psychiatry, Yale University College of Medicine

About the Author

Anthony Summers is the bestselling author of eight works of nonfiction. His investigative books include Not in Your Lifetime, the critically acclaimed account of the assassination of John F. Kennedy; Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover; Goddess, a biography of Marilyn Monroe; and most recently The Eleventh Day, on the 9/11 attacks--a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for History.