Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman
"Distinguished celebrity biographer andVanity Faircontributing editor Bosworth recoundsthe life story of an American icon in all its heady--and at times, unabashedly scandalous--glory. With consummate skill and insight, the author follows Fonda...Bosworth's coverage of Fonda...is as epic as the life that she chronicles. Reading to savor."-Kirkus, starred"[Bosworth's]remarkable reconstruction of long-ago eventshas a fly-on-the-wall viewpoint, written with such intimacy that it sometimes generates the strange sensation of being present with Fonda and her friends...Bosworth has succeeded in capturing Fonda's step-by-step transformationfrom wide-eyed, apolitical ingenue to the poised personality of recent decades."-Publishers Weekly, starred"Watching Jane Fonda wrestle with her many passions has been one of the most fascinating stories of the past fifty years. Brilliant, beautiful, achingly vulnerable, self-wounding and yet with a Joan of Arc sense of self-determination whenever she steps into the spotlight. Fonda is one of the greatest film stars to ever appear on the screen. Her life deserves to be re-evaluated as it is in Patricia Bosworth'sJane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman."—Alec Baldwin"Patricia Bosworth has written an irresistible biography of the accomplished controversial actress whose roles on screen and off helped define a generation. Whether you love Jane Fonda or abhor her, thePrivate Life of　a Public Womanis a detailed and generous exploration not only of the contradictory world Fonda grew up in but of the many people who shaped her."—Jeannette Walls"Bosworth’s expedition into every corner of Fonda’s life makes for far more than a spellbinding biography. It sweeps the reader into a cultural history of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, when this female icon helped define the causes of the era. The access gained by Bosworth is impressive—lovers, stepmothers, and ex-husbands share their secrets, adding to what will certainly become the definitive portrait of a woman conflicted, torn between ferocious　ambition, family, and feminist causes. Bosworth’s rendering of Fonda’s interior chaos becomes a revealing probe into the female psyche."—Gail Sheehy, author ofPassages"PatriciaBosworth’s brilliant detective work has unearthed so much about Jane Fonda that I didn’t know—so much feeling, so much courage, so much hurt. Reading this book, it occurred to me that Fonda, despite her brilliant acting, despite her activism, despite her life led in the headlines, was really the archetypal woman of her generation: a woman torn between love and work, family and accomplishment. Bosworth’s book is far from another Hollywood biography; it is a human portrait and, at the same time, a major American life. Reading this book, living Jane’s life along with her, is an adventure and a pleasure."—William Mann, author ofKate: The Woman Who Was HepburnandHow to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood