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True West: Sam Shepard's Life, Work, and Times
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A revelatory biography of the world-famous playwright and actor Sam Shepard, whose work was matched by his equally dramatic life, including collaborations with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan as well as tumultuous relationships with Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange
“What [ True West ] achieves in its finest pages is placing the artist in his time. . . . I was filled with excitement, envy and reverence for the New York City that embraced the young Shepard in the 1960s and early ’70s.”—Ethan Hawke, The Washington Post
True Sam Shepard’s Life, Work, and Times is the story of an American icon, a lasting portrait of Sam Shepard as he really was, revealed by those who knew him best. This sweeping biography charts Shepard’s long and complicated journey from a small town in Southern California to become an internationally known playwright and movie star. The only son of an alcoholic father, Shepard crafted a public persona as an authentic American the loner, the cowboy, the drifter, the stranger in a strange land. Despite his great critical and financial success, he seemed, like so many of his characters, to remain perpetually dispossessed.
Much like Robert Greenfield’s biographies of Jerry Garcia and Timothy Leary, this book delves deeply into Shepard’s life as well as the ways in which his work illuminates it. True West takes readers through the world of downtown theater in Lower Manhattan in the early sixties; the jazz scene at New York’s Village Gate; fringe theater in London in the seventies; Bob Dylan’s legendary Rolling Thunder tour; the making of classic films like Zabriskie Point, Days of Heaven, and The Right Stuff; and Broadway productions of Buried Child, True West, and Fool for Love .
For this definitive biography, Greenfield interviewed dozens of people who knew Shepard well, many of whom had never before spoken on the record about him. While exploring his relationships with Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange across the long arc of his brilliant career, Greenfield makes the case for Shepard as not just a great American writer but a unique figure who first brought the sensibility of rock ’n’ roll to theater.
“What [ True West ] achieves in its finest pages is placing the artist in his time. . . . I was filled with excitement, envy and reverence for the New York City that embraced the young Shepard in the 1960s and early ’70s.”—Ethan Hawke, The Washington Post
True Sam Shepard’s Life, Work, and Times is the story of an American icon, a lasting portrait of Sam Shepard as he really was, revealed by those who knew him best. This sweeping biography charts Shepard’s long and complicated journey from a small town in Southern California to become an internationally known playwright and movie star. The only son of an alcoholic father, Shepard crafted a public persona as an authentic American the loner, the cowboy, the drifter, the stranger in a strange land. Despite his great critical and financial success, he seemed, like so many of his characters, to remain perpetually dispossessed.
Much like Robert Greenfield’s biographies of Jerry Garcia and Timothy Leary, this book delves deeply into Shepard’s life as well as the ways in which his work illuminates it. True West takes readers through the world of downtown theater in Lower Manhattan in the early sixties; the jazz scene at New York’s Village Gate; fringe theater in London in the seventies; Bob Dylan’s legendary Rolling Thunder tour; the making of classic films like Zabriskie Point, Days of Heaven, and The Right Stuff; and Broadway productions of Buried Child, True West, and Fool for Love .
For this definitive biography, Greenfield interviewed dozens of people who knew Shepard well, many of whom had never before spoken on the record about him. While exploring his relationships with Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange across the long arc of his brilliant career, Greenfield makes the case for Shepard as not just a great American writer but a unique figure who first brought the sensibility of rock ’n’ roll to theater.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published April 11, 2023
61 people are currently reading
1864 people want to read
About the author
Robert Greenfield
29 books63 followersA former Associate Editor of the London bureau of Rolling Stone magazine, Robert Greenfield is the critically acclaimed author of several classic rock books, among them S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones, as well as the definitive biographies of Timothy Leary and Ahmet Ertegun. With Bill Graham, he is the co-author of Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out, which won the ASCAP- Deems Taylor Award. An award winning novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, his short fiction has appeared in GQ, Esquire, and Playboy magazines. He lives in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
September 30, 2024
I feel quite biased in favor of these Sam Shepard biographies because I came of age on his early plays. Basically, I followed Shepard's stuff because I was in theatre. I had a chance to perform in a Steppenwolf Theatre showcase of Curse of the Starving Class not long after I attended one of the epic performances of John Malkovich and Gary Sinese in True West. The thing that strikes me as odd is how biographers and critics saw Shepard as some kind of enigma or mystery, "inscrutable" even to himself and all that stuff. He doesn't seem that complex to me as a man. Sure, he was a constantly working, moody, irascible, charismatic genius. He craved either company or solitude, never feeling complete in either one.
But for me Shepard is recognizable as a true late twentieth century personality. He was an early baby boomer son of a high-functioning alcoholic dad. He was the kid of a scary, smart, talented, unpredictable dad. We all know Shepard's life and art both mirrored and purged his father's influence. Shepard actually made the remark that a lot of baby boomers' fathers who served in combat in World Word II came back from their service displaced, angry, and emotionally volatile. Their women steadfastly wanted to heal them. I think a lot of us in this generation experienced something similar although we didn't put our experiences into art at the expansive level Shepard did. And he was lucky and often acknowledged that he was in the right place at the right time, a lot.
Sam Shepard's personality, as detailed in this biography, seems not mysterious but familiar. An emotionally divided, ordinary guy who could be a feral cat you can't keep in the house. Five stars are accorded to Greenfield's thoroughness, and especially his final chapters that elegantly depict the last days of Shepard's life. At the end Shepard said he lived the way he wanted. Highly recommend this book if you're a Shepard head.
But for me Shepard is recognizable as a true late twentieth century personality. He was an early baby boomer son of a high-functioning alcoholic dad. He was the kid of a scary, smart, talented, unpredictable dad. We all know Shepard's life and art both mirrored and purged his father's influence. Shepard actually made the remark that a lot of baby boomers' fathers who served in combat in World Word II came back from their service displaced, angry, and emotionally volatile. Their women steadfastly wanted to heal them. I think a lot of us in this generation experienced something similar although we didn't put our experiences into art at the expansive level Shepard did. And he was lucky and often acknowledged that he was in the right place at the right time, a lot.
Sam Shepard's personality, as detailed in this biography, seems not mysterious but familiar. An emotionally divided, ordinary guy who could be a feral cat you can't keep in the house. Five stars are accorded to Greenfield's thoroughness, and especially his final chapters that elegantly depict the last days of Shepard's life. At the end Shepard said he lived the way he wanted. Highly recommend this book if you're a Shepard head.
April 21, 2023
Really 3.5.
A somewhat interesting look at the life of actor, writer, and playwright Sam Shepard.
Gathering information from his own interviews with people who knew Shepard as well as using the public record and previously published biographies, the author provides a look into Shepard's life.
The biography includes few surprises, though does a good job describing Shepard's troubled relationships, both professional and personal. One of the more interesting insights is that Shepard seems to have been not so much behind the times, but kind of outside of the times--at many points in his life.
We gain some insight into events and circumstances that influenced Shepard's writings.
Of course, we also learn about his problems with substance abuse and his incessant womanizing.
As I often do with nonfiction, I both listened to and read the biography. The photo insert in the print edition adds to the account; audiobook listeners can find similar (if not the same) photos via an internet search.
This is not a biography for those looking for juicy Hollywood gossip. It's more geared to those who are familiar with Shepard's stories and plays.
The audiobook was performed by Jon Lindstrom, whose delivery mirrored the text and ranged from soothing and steady to dramatic, as called for in the biography.
Thanks to the publishers for digital and audio review copies. I bought the hardcover myself.
A somewhat interesting look at the life of actor, writer, and playwright Sam Shepard.
Gathering information from his own interviews with people who knew Shepard as well as using the public record and previously published biographies, the author provides a look into Shepard's life.
The biography includes few surprises, though does a good job describing Shepard's troubled relationships, both professional and personal. One of the more interesting insights is that Shepard seems to have been not so much behind the times, but kind of outside of the times--at many points in his life.
We gain some insight into events and circumstances that influenced Shepard's writings.
Of course, we also learn about his problems with substance abuse and his incessant womanizing.
As I often do with nonfiction, I both listened to and read the biography. The photo insert in the print edition adds to the account; audiobook listeners can find similar (if not the same) photos via an internet search.
This is not a biography for those looking for juicy Hollywood gossip. It's more geared to those who are familiar with Shepard's stories and plays.
The audiobook was performed by Jon Lindstrom, whose delivery mirrored the text and ranged from soothing and steady to dramatic, as called for in the biography.
Thanks to the publishers for digital and audio review copies. I bought the hardcover myself.
May 28, 2023
A balanced view of a man who one might politely call “complicated,” Robert Greenfield’s new biography of Shepard drives me to revisit the work I’ve seen, and especially to try to see the plays and films I haven’t. Greenfield excavates the motivation behind the playwright’s work while separating the history of his life from a swirl of self-generated myth, leaving the reader conflicted. Shepard would revel in my unease.
August 2, 2023
A good summation of an amazing man overall, I guess, but Greenfield does a lot of quoting from other biographers. There are also errors, especially in regards to films. And my biggest nitpick: one of the pleasures of reading a biography is seeing photos of the subject throughout his life, as well as photos of other family members and close associates. There are VERY few photos - none of Shepard before the age of 25. Greenfield describes some photos, but it would have been nice to see them - especially those that have apparently been published elsewhere.
Still, the chapters dealing with Shepard's decline and death from ALS were very moving. I remember the great shock of this - his illness had not been made public.
Still, the chapters dealing with Shepard's decline and death from ALS were very moving. I remember the great shock of this - his illness had not been made public.
March 11, 2023
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Crown Publishing for an advanced copy of this biography on a man who was not only a great playwright, but a musician, an actor, a horsemen, a father, a son, and maybe not the nicest of men.
Sam Shepard was not only a playwright that wrote about families with a strength and a truth about what love and hate and other emotions lay under the surface, he was an actor with a man's man look that made both sexes swoon a little. Shepard was also a musician, playing with experimental bands, and teaching Patti Smith about guitar, and even buying Smith her first guitar. Shepard knew horses, and he knew how to sell himself, even though Shepard treated his privacy like a currency, one he hoarded most of his life. In many ways Shepard was a bit of fiction, a character no different than one written in his plays. His name was an alias, adding fiction or better stories to his biography was no different than rewriting a scene in a play. Truth seemed to only be for his plays, everything else, be it friends, wives, lovers, family, even judges, well so be it. In True West: Sam Shepard's Life, Work, and Times Robert Greenfield has written a biography that is as true and honest as one can be, when writing about the life of an almost Renaissance and difficult man.
Readers first meet our hero as he has arrived in New York, broke and admiring the way a hamburger is prepared in White Castle. Samuel Shepard Rogers III was born in 1943 to a United States Army Air Forces bomber pilot, who later became a teacher, also named Samuel, and his mother Jane also a school teacher. Samuel, called Steve Rogers, the same name as the character in the Captain America comics, grew up in California, and spent summers working on a ranch, where he became interested in animals, and thought of becoming a veterinarian. Sam went to college for a short time, becoming interested in acting and joing a acting troupe that put on plays across the country, till he found himself in New York, where we first met him. Sam found a job as a busboy in the Village Gate, making decent money for the time, and soon was working with another theatre group, that he began writing one-act plays for, which slowly garnered respect. Soon he was married, working with a band, writing, more plays, than dating Patti Smith writing a play with her, as his reputation began to grow. And what follows is a life of prizes, acting roles, romances, children, sadness, but a life proudly lived to his standards.
This is not only an well-written and well-researched biography, but a wonderfully written book. Right from the opening the book pulls the reader into the story, and does not let go, even when Sam Shepard is kind of a jerk, which happens a lot. Greenfield has a very nice style, able to talk about not just the plays, but the writing, the thoughts and the work that went into there creation. Considering how much Shepard created his own mythology, I can't imagine it was easy putting this together, and I really marvel at the skill, and the portrait that Greenfield has created about this man. I knew the actor, but now need to know more about his writings, and look forward to exploring Shepard's works. A beautiful book about a very complicated artist, who must have really been a pain to know, or even worse to be ignored by as Shepard did to so many people.
A biography for people who enjoy the lives of complicated people, or who enjoy really well told stories about famous characters. This also would of course be of interest to those who enjoy books about the theater. And for those interested in books on creating, and working on art. To read how Shepard struggled, rewriting plays and trying to get the truth, and the feeling down is quite inspirational. A really very good book, and I can't wait to see who Robert Greenfield picks as his next subject.
Sam Shepard was not only a playwright that wrote about families with a strength and a truth about what love and hate and other emotions lay under the surface, he was an actor with a man's man look that made both sexes swoon a little. Shepard was also a musician, playing with experimental bands, and teaching Patti Smith about guitar, and even buying Smith her first guitar. Shepard knew horses, and he knew how to sell himself, even though Shepard treated his privacy like a currency, one he hoarded most of his life. In many ways Shepard was a bit of fiction, a character no different than one written in his plays. His name was an alias, adding fiction or better stories to his biography was no different than rewriting a scene in a play. Truth seemed to only be for his plays, everything else, be it friends, wives, lovers, family, even judges, well so be it. In True West: Sam Shepard's Life, Work, and Times Robert Greenfield has written a biography that is as true and honest as one can be, when writing about the life of an almost Renaissance and difficult man.
Readers first meet our hero as he has arrived in New York, broke and admiring the way a hamburger is prepared in White Castle. Samuel Shepard Rogers III was born in 1943 to a United States Army Air Forces bomber pilot, who later became a teacher, also named Samuel, and his mother Jane also a school teacher. Samuel, called Steve Rogers, the same name as the character in the Captain America comics, grew up in California, and spent summers working on a ranch, where he became interested in animals, and thought of becoming a veterinarian. Sam went to college for a short time, becoming interested in acting and joing a acting troupe that put on plays across the country, till he found himself in New York, where we first met him. Sam found a job as a busboy in the Village Gate, making decent money for the time, and soon was working with another theatre group, that he began writing one-act plays for, which slowly garnered respect. Soon he was married, working with a band, writing, more plays, than dating Patti Smith writing a play with her, as his reputation began to grow. And what follows is a life of prizes, acting roles, romances, children, sadness, but a life proudly lived to his standards.
This is not only an well-written and well-researched biography, but a wonderfully written book. Right from the opening the book pulls the reader into the story, and does not let go, even when Sam Shepard is kind of a jerk, which happens a lot. Greenfield has a very nice style, able to talk about not just the plays, but the writing, the thoughts and the work that went into there creation. Considering how much Shepard created his own mythology, I can't imagine it was easy putting this together, and I really marvel at the skill, and the portrait that Greenfield has created about this man. I knew the actor, but now need to know more about his writings, and look forward to exploring Shepard's works. A beautiful book about a very complicated artist, who must have really been a pain to know, or even worse to be ignored by as Shepard did to so many people.
A biography for people who enjoy the lives of complicated people, or who enjoy really well told stories about famous characters. This also would of course be of interest to those who enjoy books about the theater. And for those interested in books on creating, and working on art. To read how Shepard struggled, rewriting plays and trying to get the truth, and the feeling down is quite inspirational. A really very good book, and I can't wait to see who Robert Greenfield picks as his next subject.
August 10, 2023
The past two years I've been reading all of Shepard's work, plus existing biographies I can get my hands on. I started with his notebooks from The Rolling Thunder Review and it went downhill from there. I am not a fan of his plays, and it seems like he spent a lifetime working through the trauma of his father and highly dysfunctional family. So many of his plays have that abusive, alcoholic figurehead in them.
There is also no mention of the 1993 film, "Silent Tongue" which Shepard both wrote and directed. It doesn't appear in the text or the index. How is that possible? I bought this book to learn more about the man and his work, but am now wondering what else has been left out. That the book is an easy read - almost too easy - doesn't save it. There's nothing new here of any consequence, and very little about Shepard's creative process. That I now know far more about his friendship with Johnny Dark than I could ever care to hardly compensates for these shortcomings. In one sentence, the author blows through a decade worth of films that Shepard was in; writing them off as "something to pay for the horse's food," and these weren't "B" films but each starring an actress at the peak of her game during that era.
They say you should never meet your heroes, and Shepard would be a good example of that old adage. Abusive to family, friends, fans, co-workers...the list goes on and on. He admits he handled women poorly yet continued to inflict his problems and bad behaviors on them. He also seems to know what people to glom onto to help climb in his career. Some can put aside their traumas and get on with life, some don't have the luxury of wallowing in the same traumas--they have to get on their lives. It was Shepard's choice.
There is also no mention of the 1993 film, "Silent Tongue" which Shepard both wrote and directed. It doesn't appear in the text or the index. How is that possible? I bought this book to learn more about the man and his work, but am now wondering what else has been left out. That the book is an easy read - almost too easy - doesn't save it. There's nothing new here of any consequence, and very little about Shepard's creative process. That I now know far more about his friendship with Johnny Dark than I could ever care to hardly compensates for these shortcomings. In one sentence, the author blows through a decade worth of films that Shepard was in; writing them off as "something to pay for the horse's food," and these weren't "B" films but each starring an actress at the peak of her game during that era.
They say you should never meet your heroes, and Shepard would be a good example of that old adage. Abusive to family, friends, fans, co-workers...the list goes on and on. He admits he handled women poorly yet continued to inflict his problems and bad behaviors on them. He also seems to know what people to glom onto to help climb in his career. Some can put aside their traumas and get on with life, some don't have the luxury of wallowing in the same traumas--they have to get on their lives. It was Shepard's choice.
January 31, 2024
According to this biography, Shepard was skeptical about focusing on the biographies of artists as a way to inform the work which I guess he thought should more or less speak for itself. This is generally my prejudice as well.
Nonetheless, I bought the book because I had hoped that by reading this very readable and detailed narrative of Shepards’ life, there’d bet some kind of additional illumination on Shepard’s artistic process. Unfortunately I did not find this to be the case.
The author makes the point, that Shepard was an unreliable narrator when interviewed and so likewise acknowledges that the best sources for understanding Shepard are short story collections like Day Out of Days, Cruising Paradise, Great Dream of Heaven and Two Prospectors, the collected correspondence between Shepard and his lifelong friend, Johnny Dark.
So, if you want to have a feel for Shepard the artist and the person, this biography confirms my original bias concerning the relative unimportance of an artist's personal narrative. Instead, I think folks would be better off reading the work, including those mentioned above, while dispensing the need for a chronological rendition of facts which is provided by this biography. Whether you read this biography or focus on the work or both, the Sam Shepard character will remain enigmatic. But if you focus on the work, you’ll experience the power of Shepard’s life work without the distraction of his celebrity or the particulars of his well guarded private life.
Nonetheless, I bought the book because I had hoped that by reading this very readable and detailed narrative of Shepards’ life, there’d bet some kind of additional illumination on Shepard’s artistic process. Unfortunately I did not find this to be the case.
The author makes the point, that Shepard was an unreliable narrator when interviewed and so likewise acknowledges that the best sources for understanding Shepard are short story collections like Day Out of Days, Cruising Paradise, Great Dream of Heaven and Two Prospectors, the collected correspondence between Shepard and his lifelong friend, Johnny Dark.
So, if you want to have a feel for Shepard the artist and the person, this biography confirms my original bias concerning the relative unimportance of an artist's personal narrative. Instead, I think folks would be better off reading the work, including those mentioned above, while dispensing the need for a chronological rendition of facts which is provided by this biography. Whether you read this biography or focus on the work or both, the Sam Shepard character will remain enigmatic. But if you focus on the work, you’ll experience the power of Shepard’s life work without the distraction of his celebrity or the particulars of his well guarded private life.
January 13, 2024
Interesting study of a very talented and very flawed man. Certainly a man of contradictions. On screen he most often portrayed the cool, laconic westerner in the tradition of Gary Cooper. In life he was someone who abused alcohol and drugs and wrote challenging and sometimes chaotic plays that continually revisited his own unresolved issues with his alcoholic father.
The writer went into great detail about the creation of his numerous plays and gave less attention to his movie career. Perhaps that's because Shepard seemed to see himself as a playwright who acted for the money he needed.
I was fortunate enough to be in a production of Shepard's "A Lie of the Mind". After the first read through and early rehearsals we thought his reputation was like "The Emperor's New Clothes" as everyone said it was supposed to be wonderful and we found nothing there. However, once we really inhabited the characters, by the end of the run nobody wanted it to end.
Readers who are very interested in his theater career will find this more interesting than those looking for a standard biography of a movie star.
The writer went into great detail about the creation of his numerous plays and gave less attention to his movie career. Perhaps that's because Shepard seemed to see himself as a playwright who acted for the money he needed.
I was fortunate enough to be in a production of Shepard's "A Lie of the Mind". After the first read through and early rehearsals we thought his reputation was like "The Emperor's New Clothes" as everyone said it was supposed to be wonderful and we found nothing there. However, once we really inhabited the characters, by the end of the run nobody wanted it to end.
Readers who are very interested in his theater career will find this more interesting than those looking for a standard biography of a movie star.
August 15, 2023
This biography of the artist Sam Shephard reminds me of the Kris Kristofferson lyric “he is a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction.” Sam Shepard was a handsome, charismatic man that everything he tried seemed to work well for him. As a playwright he won two Obie awards and a Pulitzer Prize. As an actor, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing Chuck Yeager in the Right Stuff. In real life, he was terrified of flying, was a drug abuser, alcoholic and womanizer. When interviewed about his personal life, he made stuff up and created this image of himself as this strong, silent cowboy type. Underneath his bravado, was a man traumatized by his own father’s alcoholism who fought with every authority figure he worked with. Do I admire him? Always.
August 28, 2023
Dutiful portrait of Shepard, the lanky, hippie-era mid-Western transient who converted his scarring formation into a string of loose, explosive, and critically divisive (dextrous or disposable?) plays. Throughout the course of his restless, complicated, and ultimately self-destructive life, Shepard walked a thin, fraying tightrope that stretched from a dysfunctional home and off-off-Broadway to a Pulitzer Prize and movie stardom, till its insulting snap sent him hurtling into poverty and ill health. It's a moving, cautionary character sketch, even if crafted less from passion than professionalism.
January 20, 2025
Bare bones biography. Greenfield interviewed some people that knew Shepard but none of the big players—O-Lan Jones, Lange, Johnny Dark or even middle players. His overview of his plays and movies are slight. He relies on info from interviews with Lange and the letters between Dark and Shepard published in 2013 as Two Prospectors and the writings of Patti Smith about her time with Shepard. I didn’t know much about the background of his grandparents and parents and appreciated that but overall a biography unworthy of the man or his art.
April 1, 2023
Excellent overview of an artistic American hero.
My interview with the author, Robert Greenfield, is linked below:
https://www.nobhillgazette.com/the_cu...
My interview with the author, Robert Greenfield, is linked below:
https://www.nobhillgazette.com/the_cu...
May 31, 2023
Although the book goes into great detail about Shepard's writing and staging of his early off-Broadway and earlier plays that may be of little interest to many, the insights into his relationships with family and friends and his inner demons are worth the read. The author, playwright, and actor was a truly complex individual.
June 10, 2023
It is a biography including excerpts from other biographies and information from some people who knew him. There was not new information. It felt to me like a student writing a paper based on information from other texts, not much original material. I was really excited to read/listen to it so was a bit disappointed.
July 22, 2023
Many artists are damaged people with troubled souls; Sam Shepard clearly fit that description. Nonetheless, I admired his body of work for many years. I was enthralled by this book. I walked the same streets and even attended the same high school as Sam, albeit different times. If you are a theatre nut and enjoy reading plays, you're going to love this book.
October 14, 2023
Sam Shepard is a great subject for a biography but unfortunately, this book is not it. Still I enjoyed learning more about Sam Shepard and his life, even if it was a rather dry account of a fascinating artist. This playwright deserves a more passionate touch, i.e. Richard Yates, Sylvia Plath, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Nureyev, Lucy Maude Montgomery etc.
May 4, 2023
Wonderful and comprehensive account of the life of a long-time hero, with great detail regarding the New York years with Patti Smith. Ultimately very sad. Bad decisions, alcoholism, and finally ALS made much of his life seemingly miserable, and ultimately ended his life too soon.
May 26, 2023
I saw several of Sam Shepard's plays when I lived in the Washington DC area. They were strange. This biography of Shepard elaborates on that strangeness, as a playwright and on his life. I don't think he would be an easy person to live with.
June 5, 2024
My biggest concern about starting this book happened: I was worried that I would dislike Sam Shepard by the end and that is true. There is severe editorializing in these pages. Mostly, it feels like this biographer doesn't like his subject.
January 8, 2023
A solid, workmanlike biography of the multi-faceted playwright, screenwriter, actor, musician, and author best know for his play True West and his role in The Right Stuff.
March 2, 2023
Review TK
June 15, 2023
Not revelatory, but nevertheless a good contribution to the emerging SS biography.
June 20, 2023
Excellent biography - a complicated, tormented, talented man - gifted on so many levels. Already feels like he lived in another era. Well worth reading...
July 21, 2023
actually 3.5
September 13, 2023
Silly author of this book but after getting fed up
With what an asshole Sam was the death parts moved me.
With what an asshole Sam was the death parts moved me.
Read
September 14, 2023Stopped because this book just rambled.
November 1, 2023
I learned a lot reading this book.
December 5, 2023
I didn’t love this biography and I think Shepard was a piece of crap despite writing some of my favorite plays and movies
January 21, 2024
Great book about a deeply flawed but brilliant writer. As a companion piece check the documentary SHEPARD & DARK.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews