Product Description

She was born Norma Jeane but the world knew and loved her as Marilyn. Her life was one of unprecedented fame and private misery, her death a tragedy surrounded by mysteries. Drawing on first-hand interviews Anthony Summers offers both a classic biography and a shockingly revealing account of the screen goddess's relations with John and Robert Kennedy. 'The definitive story of the legend . . . more convincing at every page - told with all the coldness of truth and the authority of the historian, but at the end of it we still love Marilyn' Maeve Binchy, Irish Times

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73412 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-10
• Binding: Paperback
• 621 pages

Synopsis
She was born Norma Jeane but the world knew and loved her as Marilyn. Her life was one of unprecedented fame and private misery, her death a tragedy surrounded by mysteries. Drawing on first-hand interviews Anthony Summers offers both a classic biography and a shockingly revealing account of the screen goddess's relations with John and Robert Kennedy. 'The definitive story of the legend ...more convincing at every page - told with all the coldness of truth and the authority of the historian, but at the end of it we still love Marilyn' Maeve Binchy, Irish Times

About the Author
Anthony Summers formerly covered wars and other world new events for the BBC. He has written five previous books, including Conspiracy, an acclaimed study of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Summers lives in Ireland with his wife and principal colleague, Robbyn Swan. He has four sons and a daughter.

Customer Reviews

The Conspiracy Theorists Field Day
This is my 5th copy of this book, so it must be good!!
I have read many books on Marilyn's life and death, but this is by far the best I've read. Ok, so we get a warts and all view of her, blowing out of the water the sweet little thing we saw on the screen but it gives a better overall view of this vulnerable, disturbed young woman.
He takes us through the problems suffered by Marilyn(or Norma Jean's) mother to Marilyns untimely death and beyond.
Anthony Summers, being the king of Conspiracy books, finds information which smacks you in the face in places, I found my jaw dropping on more than one occasion, even after reading this book time and time again.
There is more than one conspiracy thread running through it, even more suspects in her death, but Summers gives us information that could well hold water if viewed more carefully.
We all knew Marilyn had her demons, and we find out about how this coloured her relationships with both men and women, friends, collegues, her fans, teachers, no one escaped. Yet I found that no matter what she did, or how strange her actions, how she hurt people, these people still love her.
If you want a good read, one which makes you think, shows her in a new light, or if you have your own ideas on what happened, please read this. See if you come to the same conclusions as Anthony Summers. I didn't, far from it. This guy has done his homework and come up with a book which the conspiracy theorists will be rubbing their hands over.
To me, this book showed Marilyn as a human being like the rest of us, not iconic figure we all know. She became more real, she had the same dreams, hopes and fears as we all did, but she had to fight her own demons. I found out a lot more about the real Marilyn/Norma Jean in this book than I found out in any other books. As far as I'm concerned, it's a must read

One for the conspiracy theorists
I first read this book during the 1980s when there weren't so many biographies of Monroe to choose from. It was one of the earliest books to tackle Marilyn's alleged affairs with the Kennedys and their implication in her untimely death.

It's a gripping read, much like a good detective novel. But it really should be treated as speculation rather than hard evidence. Having read extensively about MM over the last 20 years, I realise that she was more complex, intelligent and stronger than Mr Summers would have us believe.

Rumours of Monroe's promiscuity during her early years in Hollywood are reprinted here, with no concrete proof. He writes of her problems on movie sets without making any attempt to explain the frustration she felt. He even portrays her as a highly disturbed,borderline schizophrenic although there are no medical grounds to support this.

In the section on Marilyn and the Kennedys, Summers relies heavily on the testimonies of sources like Robert Slatzer and Jeanne Carmen, but it has been widely disputed whether they knew MM at all.

It's a fascinating read for the conspiracy theorists, and always controversial. However, Summers fails to shed any new light on Monroe's true character, and has done her image a lot of harm. I would urge fans to read other, very different biographies, like Donald Spoto's, before making up their minds about Marilyn.

A must read, Best Marilyn Book So Far!!
I love Marilyn Monroe and this book tells the sad story of a very disturbed woman. Wonderful pictures and excellently written, A sad story about the worlds most best loved actress. It details her childhood, her rise to stardom and her slow decline towards death. MUST READ FOR ALL MONROE FANS!!