Another Life

From world leaders to Mafia dons, from Hollywood stars to the literary world's most eccentric writers, the notable and notorious alike have entrusted their life's work to Simon & Schuster's preeminent editor, Michael Korda. In this masterful memoir, Korda reveals the unforgettable cast of characters and outrageous anecdotes behind four decades of blockbuster publishing, bringing us face-to-face with dozens of larger-than-life figures: Richard Nixon, who maintained his "presidential" persona long after his public life was over; Joan Crawford, whose autobiography reflected a life she would have liked to have lived but did not; Joseph Bonanno, the retired Mafia don who'd do anything to keep from being killed by the reviewers.

And in a revelatory account that reads as compulsively as fiction, Another Life paints a vivid picture of publishing's glitterati, including Jacqueline Susann, who liberated women's fiction--and terrorized a publishing house, and Tennessee Williams, who nourished his genius on four-course vodka lunches. A veritable Who's Who of stage, screen, and letters, Another Life is the deft interweaving of publishing at it most fascinating--and storytelling at its finest.
"An astonishing saga...highly entertaining."
--Chicago Sun-Times

"A joy to read."
--The New York Times

"A delicious find...[Korda] knows how to tell a wonderful story....His prodigious memory of events, his love of the eccentric and his pure glee about being alive are so engaging that it's impossible not to like this book."
--The Washington Post Book World

"Richly entertaining...not just another insider's view of a supposedly glamorous industry, but a narrative in the style of some full-blooded novelist."
--Newsday

"A thoroughly entertaining read...You don't have to be in the publishing business--or even a New Yorker--to appreciate this witty memoir."
--The Wall Street Journal