Book Description

A psychological portrait of the actress based on interviews with her psychiatrist during the last year of her life. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

You don't have to be a Monroe fan to enjoy this book!
This is a fascinating collection of stories by a great cross-section of writers. My favorite story was the touching and funny "Destiny" by Patricia Wallace. Ms. Wallace has written numerous outstanding horror and mystery novels, including the Sydney Bryant private eye series.

This offbeat anthology should find a permanent place on many bookshelves. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A nice coffee table book for serious Marilyn fans
Marilyn In Her Own Words is short on substance but not on quality, making it a great coffee table book for Monroe fans. Large but skinny, it consists of 64 pages of biographical material, quotes, and photographs compiled by Neil Grant. If you aren't fascinated with Marilyn, this book has little to offer you. Despite the title, this is in no way an autobiographical account of Marilyn's life; what you get are a number of Marilyn quotes interspersed throughout the pages, words spoken to reporters and friends alongside a few notes from Marilyn's journal. Many of these are interesting, as they deal mainly with her childhood, youth, career, and loves, but there is nothing groundbreaking here. The book is broken up into five sections, addressing Marilyn's childhood, her evolution from Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe, and her progression through the three phases of her movie career; each section features two or three pages of biographical material in addition to scattered Marilyn quotes. Fifty-eight photographs, black-and-white as well as color, serve as the major attraction of the book; many of these are quite familiar (and none are by any means exclusive to this one book), but the photos of young Norma Jean are particularly nice. If you crave anything having to do with Marilyn Monroe, this book makes a great addition to your collection, but there is little here in terms of meaningful content. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Marilyn Memorabilia at its Best!
This book is one of the best books on Marilyn that I have ever seen! There are so many great photos of her from the beginning of her career until the untimely end of her life. Harvey not only includes many lovely photos of Monroe, but includes little tidbits of information about Marilyn and the photos. It is written in a very eay to read manner and since the writing is mainly centered around the photos you can easily read a little bit here and there without getting completely lost. I really enjoyed this book's content and would strongly recommend it to any Marilyn fan!

very nice
These are extremely high quality photos on very nice paper. It is like having a marilyn scrap book of photographs. I was very pleased.
The paperback I have seen recently. It seems just as nice, but I bought the Hard back so nothing would get creased or bent. Favorite one so far. I am very picky.

Marilyn: A Life In Pictures
Excellent! Loved it! Marilyn was and truly is beautiful. Every Marilyn fan should purchase this book. You won't be disappointed!

I love this book
I love Marilyn Manroe and one of my friends knew how much I loved her so she got me this book. And I loved this book it had tons of grate pictures that a marilyn lover will love or just anyone that wants to remember her in some way or another. Or just someone that collects Marilyn stuff this would me amazing to add to your collection.

a must-have for every Marilyn Monroe fan's collection!
I have this book and it is by far one of the best. It has beautiful images of Marilyn. It also has a lot of information on events in Marilyn's life and things that happened during the filming of her movies. If you are a fan of Marilyn Monroe, this is a must-have! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Not necessarily a bad book...
I can't say I agree with the above comment of 1 star. Yes the book is kinda like a catalog. However, you do for the first time get to see all of William Carroll's prints (who is a wonderful man I have to add) from his photo session with Norma Jeane, yes they are in black&white. The Forward by Mr. Carroll is an interesting read as well. I agree that the book could have been displayed much nicer (color photographs, more text, hardback) but I do think its a nice addition to your collection, especially if your the type who has to have everything Marilyn. Personally, I have contacted Mr. Carroll about receiving one of his NJ prints, as they can be found nowhere else. So if this book was a "catalog" to do this, I don't really think thats a bad idea. His photo's are gorgeous.
I also think that do to the limited availability, and the semi- high price for a rather small book, that this will eventually be a sought after collectable.
I rated the book a 3 because I agree that the book could have had more potential to be nicer looking (like Milton's Marilyn, ect), but I also think it is a neat book to have. Then again I truly love photo's of Norma Jeane. So I guess it depends on what your looking for in Marilyn photo books.

Not a book, but a catalog
This is a marketing ploy to sell custom color prints for William Carroll. This is a very small book with only twenty photos.
The cover is the only photo shown in the original color. All of the others are in black and white, poor quality, very grainy.
The purpose of this little pamphlet is to sell the prints, not to showcase Mr. Carroll's photographs of young Norma Jeane for her fans. I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless you are interested in shopping for a color print, then it might come in handy. But the high price makes it unrealistic.
This book could have been a very beautiful edition of rare
photographs of a fresh, young Norma Jeane. It would have been
a wonderful addition to any collection. As it is, it is a sad little book that does not deliver what it promised. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

"The people made me a star." Marilyn
This is a very good effort of pullimg together many facts about Marilyn.Her movies,books friends,photographers,lovers,fan clubs,web sites,etc.,etc.It is a very good collection of information and as a reference book ,very handy to have for further reading about her and her career.
It does not,however;shed any real light on Marilyn herself;but tells you where to find just about anything that is available about her.
There is very little depth about anything covered in the book;but taking it for what was intended; a collection of information,it is very good.The photos are poorly chosen and even more poorly printed;except for the cover.But then again,this is not a photo album,but does reference the many excellent ones that have been published.
It is not a biography;it is a reference book.
If one were to looking for one book to read on Marilyn and her career;this would not be the one to get.However; if you've seen most of her movies,read several books on her and been treated to a few of the excellent photo books;you'd probably find this book very valuable.Anyway,that's my take on this book.

The Ultimate Marilyn
This is such a good book. I had a report on Marilyn Monroe and this helped out so much! This had pictures which were beautiful pictures. Some things that were in this book were family, friends, husbands, lovers, teachers, mentors, rivals, enemies, agents, publicists, studio heads, producers, directors, writers, photographers, costume designers, gossip, scandals, innuendo, intrigues, threats, rumors, conspiracy theories, murder or suicide, books, biographies, movies, stage plays, songs, imitators, impersonators, worshippers, detractors, fan clubs, web sites, and much more!

I found this biography to be dull and boring to read.
The Ultimate Marilyn is a biography which is filled with information. It has facts, myths, and theories. However, it is also boring to read. Unlike most Marilyn biographies which I have read, it is not set up like a story. It merely has short blurbs on each aspect of her life.

one of the top 10 books on Monroe--Cunningham really does it
The book market is flooded with Monroe works, as everyone knows. However, there are several "must have" volumes, and Ernest Cunningham's work is definitely on that list. The book provides the reader with a wealth of information, divided into easily understood sections which, in turn, will lead the reader to virtually every book ever printed dealing with this screen goddess. Cunningham's research is both broad and impeccable, not duplicated anywhere else on the market. His writing is clean and clear with a tongue-in-cheek touch that is entertaining while also being informative. This book is truly "essential" for any Monroe fan or collector and would also be of high interest for the less devoted who simly want to know a bit more about the "why" and "how" of the Monroe legend.

Great & Informative
This is a fabulous book on Marilyn. Trivia questions and answers and everything you wanted to know about her. Great book for my collection. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Choose Another
There are many wonderful and interesting books on Marilyn Monroe out there,including in ( ),so why pick this one?It is not particularly good at all.It talks about Marilyn's many relationships,affairs,marriages and stripping in a bar for 20 dollars.There is not much of interest and even the writing is not particularly fantastic.I read it because I like marilyn,but really this one is just pages of uninteresting drivel. ... Read more