Frank 英文原版
作者： James
出版社：Random House US 2010年11月
简介：
Bestselling author James Kaplan redefines Frank Sinatra in atriumphant new biography that includes many rarely seenphotographs.
Frank Sinatra was the best-known entertainer of the twenti?ethcentury—infinitely charismatic, lionized and notori?ous in equalmeasure. But despite his mammoth fame, Sinatra the man has remainedan enigma. As Bob Spitz did with the Beatles, Tina Brown for Diana,and Peter Guralnick for Elvis, James Kaplan goes behind the legendand hype to bring alive a force that changed popular culture infundamental ways.
Sinatra endowed the songs he sang with the explosive conflict ofhis own personality. He also made the very act of listening to popmusic a more personal experience than it had ever been. In Frank:The Voice, Kaplan reveals how he did it, bringing deeper insightthan ever before to the complex psyche and tur?bulent life behindthat incomparable vocal instrument. We relive the years 1915 to1954 in glistening detail, experiencing as if for the first timeSinatra’s journey from the streets of Hoboken, his fall from theapex of celebrity, and his Oscar-winning return in From Here toEternity. Here at last is the biographer who makes the reader feelwhat it was really like to be Frank Sinatra—as man, as musician, astortured genius.
【媒体评论】
Wonderfully vivid.... The story of Frank Sinatra’s rise andself-invention and the story of his fall and remarkable comebackhad the lineaments of the most essential American myths, and theirtelling, Pete Hamill once argued, required a novelist, ‘somecombination of Balzac and Raymond Chandler,’ who might ‘come closerto the elusive truth than an autobiographer as courtly as Sinatrawill ever allow himself to do.’ Now, with FRANK: THE VOICE, Sinatrahas that chronicler in James Kaplan, who has produced a book thathas all the emotional detail and narrative momentum of a novel.Kaplan writes with genuined sympathy for the singer and a deepappreciation of his musicianship, and devotes the better part ofhis book to an explication of Sinatra’s art: the real reasonreaders care about him in the first place.
—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
" Monumental... FRANK: THE VOICE is a timely reminder of what allthe fuss over Sinatra was about in the first place. Kaplan followsin the footsteps of Peter Guralnick, whose magisterial two-volumebiography of Elvis Presley was a landmark excavation of the artistfrom the dead-celebrity junk pile. Striking a similar, though morestylized, note, Mr. Kaplan offers a retelling of the early life ofFrancis Albert that illuminates the incredible-but-true origins ofa 20th-century phenomenon. "
—Wall Street Journal
"Fascinating...compelling...marvelously thoughtful [and]readable. Kaplan brings something valuable and new to this accountof Sinatra's first four decades, culminating in his cinematictriumph in From Here to Eternity and stunning vocal comeback in theearly 1950s. First and most valuable, Kaplan gives us anilluminating portrait of a serious artist who helped revolutionizehis medium. Kaplan also does a brilliant job of suggesting how theway Sinatra sang the song grew out of the life of an artist everybit as confounding and conflicted as his era — a man by turnsgenerous, attentive and immensely decent, then ugly, violentlyabusive and self-absorbed to the point of cruelty."
—Los Angeles Times
"Sinatra lovers will be enthralled by Kaplan's generous approachto the guy who sang about 'how little we know.'"
—O, The Oprah Magazine
"[A] lively, anecdote-crammed biography of the world's greatestsaloon singer.... Kaplan...writes with insight and grace."
—Bloomberg
"Masterful... a vivid, fast-paced narrative... [An] immenselyreadable account of Frank Sinatra's rise from sweet-singing mama'sboy to teen idol to Academy Award-winning actor."
—Bookpage
"Fascinating.... For anyone who wants to know what popularculture and celebrity felt like around the middle of the twentiethcentury, this book is the new bible."
—Bill Ott, Booklist, starred review
"Riveting... Kaplan's enthralling tale of an American icon servesas an introduction of "old blue eyes" to a new generation oflisteners while winning the hearts of Sinatra's diehardfans."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"This book may be the fullest account of Sinatra’s first 40years... His youth, persistence in pursuing a singing career,relationships with women, work with band leader Tommy Dorsey, thecontroversial reversal of his draft status during World War II, andrelationships with musicians and mafiosi are all presented withpanache and clarity."
—Library Journal
“The answer to 'what is there left to say about Sinatra' isstaggeringly answered in James Kaplan's new book. This story hasnever been told with such incisiveness, care, research and respect.With so many new revelations, you might never really know who FrankSinatra is until you read this book.”
—Michael Feinstein
“Jim Kaplan’s great gift is his own voice, in peak form—stylish,seductive, and richly resonant—that stands up to Sinatra’s powerfulbaritone. This is a perceptive, passionate biography of an immenseand immensely flawed musical figure whose life and legend continueto fascinate.”
—Bob Spitz, author of The Beatles
“This is biography at its very best—the story of a fascinatingcharacter brought to life as never before through superb writing,impeccable research and penetrating insight. It is a terrificbook.”
—Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals
“Sinatra was to 20th Century stagecraft what Churchill was tostatecraft: the towering presence of the age. In this lyricalnarrative, suffused with a mastery of popular culture, Frank isback—this time as a major figure in American history.”
—Jonathan Alter, author of The Promise: President Obama, YearOne
“James Kaplan succeeds not just in bringing Frank Sinatra alivein all his complexity, but in revealing in detail how heconsciously, deliberately, and painstakingly transformed himselfinto a triumphantly successful entertainer and a nationalicon.”
—Michael Korda, author of Ike
“At long last, we have a biography of Sinatra worthy of theman...a pop innovator whose influence remains incalculable, whoseart remains undiminished. James Kaplan tells this story with theauthority of a writer who inhabits his subject from deep inside.The pages fly by on the wings of song.”
—Gary Giddins, author of Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams andWarning Shadows
