Laurence Leamer
Author of The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family
About the Author
Laurence Leamer was born in Chicago on Ocober 30, 1941. He is the author of thirteen books, including The Kennedy Women, and Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2015 his non-fiction book The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963, was listed on the Nrew York Times bestseller list. Leamer is a former show more Ford Fellow in International Development at the University of Oregon and a former International Fellow at Columbia University. He is regarded as an expert on the Kennedy family. Leamer was on the staff at Newsweek, and has written for The New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Playboy, and many other publications. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Laurence Leamer
Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era (2021) 327 copies, 14 reviews
Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach (2009) 154 copies, 8 reviews
Hitchcock's Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director's Dark Obsession (2023) 90 copies, 3 reviews
Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump's Presidential Palace (2019) 51 copies, 2 reviews
Warhol's Muses: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine (2025) 42 copies, 1 review
American Capitalism 2 copies
Associated Works
Epics on Everest: Stories of Survival from the World's Highest Peak (2003) — Contributor — 35 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1941-10-30
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Antioch College (B.A., 1964)
University of Oregon
Columbia University - Occupations
- journalist
non-fiction writer - Awards and honors
- Pulitzer International Fellow., 1969
Overseas Press Club for "Best Magazine Reporting" - Short biography
- Laurence Leamer (born October 30, 1941) is a best-selling[1] author and journalist. Leamer is a former Ford Fellow in International Development at the University of Oregon and a former International Fellow at Columbia University. He is regarded as an expert on the Kennedy family[2] and has appeared in numerous media outlets discussing American politics. Leamer has also written best-selling biographies of other American icons, including Johnny Carson, the Reagan family, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Washington, D.C., USA - Place of death
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Warhol's Muses: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine by Laurence Leamer
In this intriguing book, veteran celebrity biographer Laurence Leamer turns his attention to Andy Warhol’s “superstars,” the loosely-knit collection of aspiring models and performers who starred in the pop artist’s scandalous underground films.
Warhol’s so-called superstars generally fit a certain mold. Hallmarks of the Warholian “Factory” style included striking beauty, an angular body, and a propensity towards wearing heavy makeup. Most of the denizens of Warhol’s world were show more lapsed Catholics from wealthy but highly dysfunctional families. All of them became addicted to amphetamines, heroin, or both. Only a few survived their phase in Warhol’s orbit.
The superstars were a pathetic lot, but Leamer’s portrait of Warhol himself is even more damning. The pop artist exploited his followers sexually, emotionally, and financially in ways that reminded me of how, during the same time period, Charles Manson manipulated the members of his “Family” to further his own ends. Moreover, Warhol’s callousness towards his superstars was legendary. Even the death of his favorite “Factory girl,” Edie Sedgwick, at the age of 28 left Warhol unmoved.
This book is engagingly written, but the underlying sadness of the milieu it depicts makes it tough to read. show less
Warhol’s so-called superstars generally fit a certain mold. Hallmarks of the Warholian “Factory” style included striking beauty, an angular body, and a propensity towards wearing heavy makeup. Most of the denizens of Warhol’s world were show more lapsed Catholics from wealthy but highly dysfunctional families. All of them became addicted to amphetamines, heroin, or both. Only a few survived their phase in Warhol’s orbit.
The superstars were a pathetic lot, but Leamer’s portrait of Warhol himself is even more damning. The pop artist exploited his followers sexually, emotionally, and financially in ways that reminded me of how, during the same time period, Charles Manson manipulated the members of his “Family” to further his own ends. Moreover, Warhol’s callousness towards his superstars was legendary. Even the death of his favorite “Factory girl,” Edie Sedgwick, at the age of 28 left Warhol unmoved.
This book is engagingly written, but the underlying sadness of the milieu it depicts makes it tough to read. show less
So you think you want to be filthy rich? Find someone with yachts and estates and pots of money to marry you and let you spend, spend, spend as long as you stay ultra thin and gorgeous? You can't have any real friends...you can't EAT anything but you can drink like a fish...you can't trust anyone (you especially can't trust Truman Capote, who acts like a true friend while sponging off your largesse)...you certainly can't fall in love (that's for the maids), but hey, you'll be rich and show more famous. Everyone will want to be invited to your parties and write magazine articles about your "lifestyle"; everyone will want to steal your husband or wife or lover; everyone will secretly want to see you take a nasty fall from the social register. What a world to aspire to. For many years, Truman Capote, whose indisputable talents were justly lauded, claimed to be writing a novel that would be his chef d'oeuvre, comparable to Edith Wharton's revelations of the society she knew so well. The title was to be Answered Prayers, and the point, of course, was that getting and having everything you want does not lead to endless happiness. He spent as much time as possible with the glamorous women he called his swans, gathering dirt material from what he observed and what they confided in him. Pieces of the work in progress were published in Esquire, to such outrage from the models for its characters that poor Truman was abandoned by nearly all of his ladies. Was he as clueless about the effect of his betrayal as he seemed? In any case, the novel never came together, probably because Capote descended into drugs and alcohol so far he could not often get down to work. Laurence Leamer has taken the facts of the lives of all those mostly doomed women and laid it all out here, accomplishing in a non-salacious non-fiction work precisely what Capote claimed to be up to. Be careful what you wish for...there are more tears shed over answered prayers than unanswered prayers...money can't buy happiness...there's really no there there. I enjoyed this fast read, and I've never been much for society/Hollywood gossip. It is, however, intriguing to explore the lives of these people who, in my opinion at least, had no idea of how to live well. show less
A dark and fascinating history of Capote's obsession with beautiful, unhappy women. Drawn to these lonely creatures by their decadent wealth and complicated personalities, Truman intends to write a novel capturing them in all their ephemeral loveliness. Like most of Capote's relationships, the "swans" suffer the double edge of the writer's rapt attention. The parts of the book he publishes exploit their pain, ridicule their existence and betray all their secrets is the most hurtful way show more imaginable. To make matters worse, the writing isn't even good. All the swans turn on him, and he's so blinded by ego and hubris he is completely blindsided by it. He ends his life in veritable isolation, having lost all of his hard won prestige.
Despite the bitter end, this history deals fairly with a very complicated subject. So much of Capote's life is almost too fantastical to be believed. show less
Despite the bitter end, this history deals fairly with a very complicated subject. So much of Capote's life is almost too fantastical to be believed. show less
Nonfiction should not be this enjoyable to read, but this book, centered around the high society women Truman Capote befriended and then wrote about, makes for fun reading and hints at the appeal these women had for the famous writer. It's also very much a picture of the mid-twentieth century, with all the flaws of that era: Gloria von Furstenberg had Nazi connections, Pamela Churchill married the British Prime Minister's son and then proceeded to have a series of extramarital affairs, Lee show more Radziwill was trapped in a vain competition with her more famous sister Jackie Kennedy. Many of these women felt betrayed after Capote published a story featuring them in thinly veiled disguises, an act which caused the author's social expulsion. This book is filled with the antics of high society, the gossip of a previous age, and yet it manages to reveal something more sympathetic about both Capote and these women than Capote's own writing. show less
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 22
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 2,370
- Popularity
- #10,834
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 57
- ISBNs
- 123
- Languages
- 7
- Favorited
- 3
