"The Rat Pack: A Look into the Lives of Peter Lawford and James Spada"

James Malone: I'm a nut for all things Rat Pack. I'm fascinated by the lives of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr and Peter Lawford. This book by James Spada is absolutely brilliant. Even though I'm not old enough to remember it I feel an odd nostalgia for the early-sixties Kennedy era and I loved reading about Lawford's relationship with JFK in this book. Peter's affection for his brother-in-law really shines through in the text. The tragedy of Dallas and Peter Lawford's gradual decline after that is a hard read,but compelling.It is sad that his life ended the way it did.

United Kingdom on Jun 06, 2023

Amazon Customer: great book.

United Kingdom on Feb 07, 2023

Bronwen Williams: I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about Peter Lawford that I didn't know. His fall from fame is very sad. The book includes his relations with Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, The Rat Pack etc. Very interesting.

Canada on Jul 14, 2019

bloodypeckinpah: I really liked this book and gladly give the high rating because it tells you not only everything about Peter Lawford's life and movies but also about anything or anybody who somehow was connected to him, from Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, JFK to Mafia. and its all done with a subjective point of view and fairness and you could feel the love James Spada has for Peter Lawford. unlike Shawn Levy's book (RAT PACK CONFIDENTIAL) which was written with extreme hate and venom for rat pack and everyone and everything who came close to it. I dislike (RAT PACK CONFIDENTIAL) because you get nothing from it but hate and bad feeling and it just a waste of time. recommend this book to anybody who loves movies and enjoys what's going on behind the curtain. I truly enjoyed and learned a lot from reading this book. It deserves the five stars.

Japan on Jun 27, 2017

Reading Rocks: I've read other books written by James Spada and find that his writing style is very fluid and easy to read. This bio of Peter Lawford doesn't disappoint. It's a straightforward bio that doesn't assume anything or put a label on why Peter Lawford was such a troubled individual. It is written very objectively and covers the good and the really bad things in his life. One doesn't need to be a psychiatrist to know that the main reason Peter Lawford was so bad is because of his mother ("a boy's best friend is his mother...." said by Norman Bates). The fact that Peter got into show business just multiplied his inner demons by tenfold -- a business where thousands adore you on screen yet, at the end of the day, one goes home just like a mere mortal. He married Patricia Kennedy, it seems, so that he could be assured of a grand lifestyle (money was always a problem for him when he was single). As parents, they both were a few-sandwiches-short-of-a-picnic. As a mother, Pat Kennedy only had her mother, Rose, as a guideline which we all know now that Rose had to be one of the worst mothers ever. And Peter had his own mother as a guideline and after reading this book, his mother May deserves...

United States on Dec 15, 2013

Redribbonrose: I find this era fascinating and have read a number of books regarding the Kennedys; Munroe; Sinatra etc., but this was the first book I had found about Peter Lawford.
His life is a sad roller coaster starting with his wannabe aristocratic Mother; through the Hollywood Machine; marriage into the Kennedy family; in with the Rat Pack but ultimately betrayal and decent into alcoholism, drug dependency and early death. In the end you feel quite sorry for him.
If you expect a revelation to all the "secrets" he is supposed to have kept, this book will be a disappointment as he seems to have taken them with him but the story is compelling nonetheless.
I liked this book because it threw some light on someone who was a Hollywood star but who was still pushed into the background by the more illustrious people around him.

United Kingdom on Dec 20, 2012

Rhonda: Peter Lawford was a movie star when there were still real movie stars. He was handsome, talented,a member of the Rat Pack, and, oh, yeah, his brother-in-law was President John F. Kennedy, and it is also taken as fact that Peter was the last person to speak to Marilyn Monroe. Boring karma, this man did not have. Tragic karma, brother, you can say that again. With the pending fifty year anniversary of Marilyn's death in 2012, JFK's in 2013 and even the recent death of Eddie Fisher (Fisher was married to Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth received her first onscreen kiss from Peter and remained lifelong friends with him, even getting him to go into the Betty Ford Center when she herself was being treated there), Peter's name has been coming up Googled a bit more than usual right now, and it would be great if a new generation not only learned about this man, but discovered his films, especially the ones made before he self-decimated into such an alcoholic and drug-addled mess that even I, as a fourteen year old kid and watching him on FANTASY ISLAND, thrilled that one of the Rat Pack guys would be on tv!, turned to my father (who idolized a couple of those boys, especially Dean Martin) and...

United States on Sep 30, 2010