Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Reluctant Witness by Linda Alexander

> Title: Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, & Communism
> Author: Linda Alexander
> Publisher: Tease Publishing LLC
> ISBN: 978-1-934678-63-3
> Genre: Nonfiction Biography
>
Talented biographer Linda Alexander takes us back to the days when the studio system for developing stars was in its glory; to the days after WWII when the spread of communism was being battled and anyone who didn't agree with the 'better dead than red' type of thinking could be considered suspect.

It was into this world a rather naive young man named Spangler Andrew Brugh stepped and came out known as Robert Taylor, the man with the perfect profile--sex symbol and one of Louis B. Mayer's biggest assets of the era.

Ms Alexander takes the reader from the early days of Robert Taylor's life, through his marriage to actress Barbara Stanwyck, to the development and changes in his career and private life. In this book you will meet his family, friends, associates, and come to know the man he was. You will share his moments before the senate committee that considered the movie industry as rife with communists.

A thoroughly researched story that revisits Hollywood in its heyday, when movie making was not only hard work, but a full time commitment. This is a book that any biography reader, film history buff, or nonfiction reader will enjoy all the way through, one you won't forget any time soon. It will make you look for other books by this very able author.

Enjoy. I sure did.

Anne K. Edwards

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