Mann, William J

This book argues that the Roosevelts' rise to power and prestige was driven by intense personal contests that at times devolved into a blood sport because the family was at war with itself---torn apart by jealousy, one-up-manship, the strong devouring the weak, and dismissing the inconvenient (people as well as circumstances). The Oyster Bay Roosevelts (TR's clan) and the Hyde Park Roosevelts (FDR's family) would never fully heal the breach between their families.

Hollywood chronicler William J. Mann draws on a rich host of sources, including recently released FBI files, to unpack the story of the enigmatic William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, and the diverse cast that surrounded him before he was murdered in 1922-- including three beautiful, ambitious actresses, the ruthless founder of Paramount locked in a struggle for control of the film industry, a grasping stage mother, a devoted valet, and a gang of two-bit thugs, any of whom might have fired the fatal bullet.

A biography of early twentieth-century film star William Haines, discussing his success in the free-thinking atmosphere of Hollywood in the era before the Production Code, his openness about his homosexuality, and his later career as an interior designer.