Uncovering the Hidden Truths Behind Marilyn Monroe: A Look Into the Life of a Hollywood Icon

Maria Anna Montuori: Marilyn Monroe is one of the most photographed woman ever, and yet the insight of this thouroughly detailed manuscript and the details provided are something previously unseen. This book is a collection of memories from people who were there when she was alive and sources have all been verified by the writer. The part regarding the death of this beloved Hollywood star takes most of the lenght of this book, and yet I found only one testimony missing: the one of the ambulance driver who supposedly witnessed her psychiatrist administering her an adrenaline shot to the heart to revive her from the overdose. I wonder if this is a detail that came out only recently or if the fact is yet to be proven, therefore he decided not to include it (which would be strange, since other controversial fact are detailed, although with a disclaimer note). A really interesting read.

Italy on Nov 21, 2023

Col: I read the first version of this many many years ago. I'm a massive Marilyn fan and have about 30 books on her. This is a seminal account and very well written. The first book includes Marilyn's autopsy photo which always made me uncomfortable because it seemed so intrusive and unkind to a woman who had been already chewed up and spat out in the last months of her life particularly. I am glad to see that this one doesn't include that. I look forward to re-reading it along with another four that I have ordered.

United Kingdom on Sep 26, 2023

Hawkeye: I purchased this book after a program Anthony Summers had on Net flicks. Up to that time I never hear of this book written and published in 1985. The product seems to have been used due to the coloration of the cover and the flexure of the binding. I thought I order it new! The book was obtained to understand the last portion of the book revealing the leading up to the aftermath of Marilyn Monroe’s death.

Part IV thru VI of the book is very interesting and due to all the characters sometimes difficult to follow. The author is relentless with his pursuit of the truth. The author obtains all his research to provide a reasonable scenario as to what really happen on that faithful night in August, 1962. The interested reader and inquisitor of this story will be well rewarded to obtain his view.

The book is well written with not editorial flaws. It is in six parts and has a table of contents, a reference section, black and white photos in two section, and a nice index. My only difficulty was keeping up with all the personalities in the story. A glossary would be well appreciated.

United States on Sep 04, 2023

Amazon Groupie: Well researched book into the life and death of Marilyn Monroe. If you want to read one book about her life, then read this one!

United Kingdom on Jun 22, 2023

Graham G Grant: Summers describes his subject as a ‘fugitive’ from a deprived and traumatic childhood. Marilyn Monroe worked hard and used her innate acting talent to gain global fame. But she was also a mass of contradictions - a sex symbol who never learned to love herself. Ultimately, she was drawn into the orbit of powerful people, and relationships that may have led to her tragic demise. Summers is a brilliant writer, and a forensic investigator. He is no sucker for a conspiracy theory - but builds a highly persuasive picture of what happened on the night of Marilyn’s overdose death, and the possible role played by her presumed lover, Robert Kennedy. The scale of the research - with more than 650 interviews - is testament to the extraordinary rigour of Summers’ work. It’s a thorough overview of Marilyn’s whole life rather than focusing on her death, which was officially judged as a ‘probable’ suicide. The lasting impression is of a superbly talented but self-destructive and psychologically damaged young woman. As Summers points out, if she hadn’t been Marilyn Monroe, she might have ended up in an institution, as in her final months she came close to outright insanity at...

United Kingdom on Apr 04, 2023

Linda Buchanan: Disillusioned by what i found out about people i used it admire - and how they kept high-paying jobs when their lives were so shallow and miserable.. Sad.

Canada on Jan 10, 2023

Amazon Customer: This book was written between 1982 and 1985, twenty plus years after Marilyn Monroe's death and triggered by the Los Angeles' District Attorney's review of the circumstances surrounding her death. In the author's words (page 7) "This book will an investigation of Marilyn's adult life, not of her childhood -- that desolate dislocated period has been well charted by earlier biographers".
Its 368 pages of text are divided into six parts, Part I: Into the land of scorpions (her break-out into Hollywood), Part II: The DiMaggio disaster, Part III: Broken marriage -- broken mind (including her marriage to Arthur Miller). Part IV: Marilyn and the Kennedy brothers, Part V: The Candle burns down, Part VI: Aftermath.
I have read most of the biographies of Marilyn Monroe. Donald Spotos' 1993 biography is somewhat more smoothly written and I have yet to read Sarah Churchwell's 2005 "The many lives of Marilyn Monroe". This book is the best researched and documented that I have read (29 pages of source notes in very small type). It shows the author as the seasoned professional investigative reporter he was.
What stands out in my mind is his detailed and documented reconstruction of what...

United States on Aug 09, 2020

Rick Spell: I bought this book after reading the 2005 LA Times story of the police medical examiner who believes Monroe did not kill herself. He believes she was administered a morphine overdose by suppository. Also, the psychiatrist who was very close to Monroe at her death and was criticized for this closeness believed the same theory. In the LA Times article, this book was mentioned as a definitive journal of her life and death. Also, it alluded that the psychiatrist's statements were shared with this author and in this book. Therefore, on that recommendation that this was the definitive Marilyn Monroe book, I felt a need to understand and investigate her life and death.

I was not disappointed. I remain absolutely amazed at the completeness of the research involved in this book. Be forewarned this is not a short read. But it is well worthwhile. He completely documents disagreements in sources and presents clearly his beliefs based upon the research. An important fact from early and mid-life that I had never seen emphasized was exactly how few movies she made at the end of her life, something like only 5 in the last 10 years. In my 52 year lifetime, Marilyn clearly had the most...

United States on Sep 23, 2005