Background
William J. Mann was born on August 7, 1963, in Connecticut, United States, to William H. Mann and Carol (Soederlind) Mann.
1615 Stanley St, New Britain, CT 06053, United States
Connecticut State University
45 Wyllys Ave, Middletown, CT 06459, United States
Wesleyan University
Lambda Literary Award
Edgar Allan Poe Award
Hartford Monthly
(New York Times Bestseller Edgar Award winner for Best Fac...)
New York Times Bestseller Edgar Award winner for Best Fact Crime The Day of the Locust meets The Devil in the White City and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in this juicy, untold Hollywood story: an addictive true tale of ambition, scandal, intrigue, murder, and the creation of the modern film industry. By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America’s new favorite pastime, and one of the nation’s largest industries. Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence. Yet Hollywood’s glittering ascendency was threatened by a string of headline-grabbing tragedies—including the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, a legendary crime that has remained unsolved until now. In a fiendishly involving narrative, bestselling Hollywood chronicler William J. Mann draws on a rich host of sources, including recently released FBI files, to unpack the story of the enigmatic Taylor and the diverse cast that surrounded him—including three beautiful, ambitious actresses; a grasping stage mother; a devoted valet; and a gang of two-bit thugs, any of whom might have fired the fatal bullet. And overseeing this entire landscape of intrigue was Adolph Zukor, the brilliant and ruthless founder of Paramount, locked in a struggle for control of the industry and desperate to conceal the truth about the crime. Along the way, Mann brings to life Los Angeles in the Roaring Twenties: a sparkling yet schizophrenic town filled with party girls, drug dealers, religious zealots, newly-minted legends and starlets already past their prime—a dangerous place where the powerful could still run afoul of the desperate. A true story recreated with the suspense of a novel, Tinseltown is the work of a storyteller at the peak of his powers—and the solution to a crime that has stumped detectives and historians for nearly a century.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HYMAUW0/?tag=2022091-20
(The first major Katharine Hepburn biography independent o...)
The first major Katharine Hepburn biography independent of her control reveals the smart, complicated, and sophisticated woman behind the image Onscreen she played society girls, Spencer Tracy's sidekick, lionesses in winter. But the best character Katharine Hepburn ever created was Katharine Hepburn: a Connecticut Yankee, outspoken and elegant, she wore pants whatever the occasion and bristled at Hollywood glitter. So captivating was her image that she never seemed less than authentic. But how well did we know her, really? Was there a woman behind the image who was more human, more driven, and ultimately more triumphant because of her vulnerability? William J. Mann—a cultural historian and journalist, a sympathetic admirer but no mere fan—has fashioned an intimate, often revisionist, and truly unique close-up that challenges much of what we think we know about the Great Kate. Previous biographies—mostly products of friends and fans—have recycled the stories she hid behind, taking Hollywood myths at face value. Mann goes deeper, delivering new details from friends and family who have not been previously interviewed and drawing on materials only available since Hepburn's death. With affection, intelligence, and a voluminous knowledge of Hollywood history, Mann shows us how a woman originally considered too special and controversial for fame learned the fine arts of movie stardom and transformed herself into an icon as durable and all-American as the Statue of Liberty.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V770FU/?tag=2022091-20
(The award-winning author presents a provocative, thorough...)
The award-winning author presents a provocative, thoroughly modern revisionist biographical history of one of America’s greatest and most influential families—the Roosevelts—exposing heretofore unknown family secrets and detailing complex family rivalries with his signature cinematic flair. Drawing on previously hidden historical documents and interviews with the long-silent "illegitimate" branch of the family, William J. Mann paints an elegant, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking group portrait of this legendary family. Mann argues that the Roosevelts’ rise to power and prestige was actually driven by a series of intense personal contest that at times devolved into blood sport. His compelling and eye-opening masterwork is the story of a family at war with itself, of social Darwinism at its most ruthless—in which the strong devoured the weak and repudiated the inconvenient. Mann focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt, who, he argues, experienced this brutality firsthand, witnessing her Uncle Theodore cruelly destroy her father, Elliott—his brother and bitter rival—for political expediency. Mann presents a fascinating alternate picture of Eleanor, contending that this "worshipful niece" in fact bore a grudge against TR for the rest of her life, and dares to tell the truth about her intimate relationships without obfuscations, explanations, or labels. Mann also brings into focus Eleanor’s cousins, TR’s children, whose stories propelled the family rivalry but have never before been fully chronicled, as well as her illegitimate half-brother, Elliott Roosevelt Mann, who inherited his family’s ambition and skill without their name and privilege. Growing up in poverty just miles from his wealthy relatives, Elliott Mann embodied the American Dream, rising to middle-class prosperity and enjoying one of the very few happy, long-term marriages in the Roosevelt saga. For the first time, The Wars of the Roosevelts also includes the stories of Elliott’s daughter and grandchildren, and never-before-seen photographs from their archives. Deeply psychological and finely rendered, illustrated with sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs, The Wars of the Roosevelts illuminates not only the enviable strengths but also the profound shame of this remarkable and influential family.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CY2XE8G/?tag=2022091-20
(The first full accouning of the role of gays and lesbians...)
The first full accouning of the role of gays and lesbians in Hollywood argues that homosexuals were in fact a protected class in the film industry who had considerable power to shape the art and business of movie-making.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670030171/?tag=2022091-20
(“Masterful . . . Many books have been written about Strei...)
“Masterful . . . Many books have been written about Streisand but few, if any, put readers as close to the subject as Mann does” (Miami Herald). A legendary singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker with multiple Academy, Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and even two Peabody awards to her name, Barbara Streisand is a talent like no other. In Hello, Gorgeous, celebrity biographer William J. Mann profiles the Brooklyn-born talent, focusing on her early years, honing her persona at Greenwich Village nightclubs like the Blue Angel and the Bon Soir. Streisand lost her father at an early age and had a rocky relationship with her mother, but her natural abilities and supernatural chutzpah soon earned her the role of a lifetime: a starring role as Fanny Brice in the Broadway musical, Funny Girl. In lush detail, Mann chronicles Streisand’s dizzying ascent from an unknown dreamer into one of the world’s most beloved superstars. “Mann’s meticulous research and insightful analysis go deeper than any previous biography: shedding light on the formative years that shaped Streisand’s persona, debunking some myths . . . and providing a cultural snapshot of the wild and free-spirited era in which Streisand blossomed.” —USA Today “Masterful . . . Many books have been written about Streisand but few, if any, put readers as close to the subject as Mann does” (Miami Herald). A legendary singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker with multiple Academy, Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and even two Peabody awards to her name, Barbara Streisand is a talent like no other. In Hello, Gorgeous, celebrity biographer William J. Mann profiles the Brooklyn-born talent, focusing on her early years, honing her persona at Greenwich Village nightclubs like the Blue Angel and the Bon Soir. Streisand lost her father at an early age and had a rocky relationship with her mother, but her natural abilities and supernatural chutzpah soon earned her the role of a lifetime: a starring role as Fanny Brice in the Broadway musical, Funny Girl. In lush detail, Mann chronicles Streisand’s dizzying ascent from an unknown dreamer into one of the world’s most beloved superstars. “Mann’s meticulous research and insightful analysis go deeper than any previous biography: shedding light on the formative years that shaped Streisand’s persona, debunking some myths . . . and providing a cultural snapshot of the wild and free-spirited era in which Streisand blossomed.” —USA Today
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006R8PGMQ/?tag=2022091-20
(This classic novel by bestselling author William J. Mann ...)
This classic novel by bestselling author William J. Mann features a gay man trying to come to terms with sex, friendship, aging, and falling—and staying—in love This stunning slice of gay life at the turn of the millennium introduces thirtysomething Jeff O’Brien. After six years, his lover, Lloyd, has just announced that the passion between them has died. Terrified of ending up alone, Jeff turns his eye toward other men. But the anonymous, impersonal encounters leave him feeling sordid and used. In search of love during this “last summer in which I am to be young,” he finds romance with a beautiful houseboy named Eduardo. At twenty-two, Eduardo is the same age Jeff was when he began a relationship with the older David Javitz, a leading activist now gravely ill with AIDS. But David became more than a lover to Jeff, who wasn’t yet out of the closet. He was his mentor and cherished friend. Narrated by Jeff, who’s caught between the baby boomers and generation X, the novel shuttles between summers in Provincetown and winters in Boston. The Men from the Boys is about the illusive nature of love and desire—“the magic that happens across a dance floor,” leaving you “forever young.” This classic novel by bestselling author William J. Mann features a gay man trying to come to terms with sex, friendship, aging, and falling—and staying—in love This stunning slice of gay life at the turn of the millennium introduces thirtysomething Jeff O’Brien. After six years, his lover, Lloyd, has just announced that the passion between them has died. Terrified of ending up alone, Jeff turns his eye toward other men. But the anonymous, impersonal encounters leave him feeling sordid and used. In search of love during this “last summer in which I am to be young,” he finds romance with a beautiful houseboy named Eduardo. At twenty-two, Eduardo is the same age Jeff was when he began a relationship with the older David Javitz, a leading activist now gravely ill with AIDS. But David became more than a lover to Jeff, who wasn’t yet out of the closet. He was his mentor and cherished friend. Narrated by Jeff, who’s caught between the baby boomers and generation X, the novel shuttles between summers in Provincetown and winters in Boston. The Men from the Boys is about the illusive nature of love and desire—“the magic that happens across a dance floor,” leaving you “forever young.”
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MO0MZSO/?tag=2022091-20
(Award-winning author William J. Mann blends fact and fict...)
Award-winning author William J. Mann blends fact and fiction in this unconventional novel about the nature of celebrity The Biograph Girl is Florence Lawrence, who gets her first big break in vaudeville as a tiny tot who can whistle like a man. By 1910 she’s a legendary movie star, pursued by thousands of rabid fans. Just a few short decades later, she’s all but forgotten, reduced to walk-ons at MGM. In 1938 she kills herself by ingesting a lethal dose of ant paste. Fast-forward fifty-nine years. A 107-year-old woman named Flo Bridgewood is discovered in a Catholic nursing home in Buffalo. Could the feisty chain smoker with the red satin bow in her hair be America’s former sweetheart? Florence Lawrence is dead . . . isn’t she? And if not, then whose body is in her grave? That’s what journalist Richard Sheehan wants to find out as he and his identical twin brother, Ben, a documentary filmmaker, decide to cash in on a decades-old mystery. Sharing the stage is Flo herself, whose story is the stuff of Hollywood fantasy. A provocative melding of fact and fiction, The Biograph Girl is about what it means to be a celebrity—then and now. Award-winning author William J. Mann blends fact and fiction in this unconventional novel about the nature of celebrity The Biograph Girl is Florence Lawrence, who gets her first big break in vaudeville as a tiny tot who can whistle like a man. By 1910 she’s a legendary movie star, pursued by thousands of rabid fans. Just a few short decades later, she’s all but forgotten, reduced to walk-ons at MGM. In 1938 she kills herself by ingesting a lethal dose of ant paste. Fast-forward fifty-nine years. A 107-year-old woman named Flo Bridgewood is discovered in a Catholic nursing home in Buffalo. Could the feisty chain smoker with the red satin bow in her hair be America’s former sweetheart? Florence Lawrence is dead . . . isn’t she? And if not, then whose body is in her grave? That’s what journalist Richard Sheehan wants to find out as he and his identical twin brother, Ben, a documentary filmmaker, decide to cash in on a decades-old mystery. Sharing the stage is Flo herself, whose story is the stuff of Hollywood fantasy. A provocative melding of fact and fiction, The Biograph Girl is about what it means to be a celebrity—then and now.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MO0MZWK/?tag=2022091-20
(A gay man who fled his hometown in a cloud of scandal and...)
A gay man who fled his hometown in a cloud of scandal and guilt returns home to his estranged family—and the boy he left behind The first call is from Wally Day’s estranged mother, begging him to come home. The second is from Sebastian Garafolo, a Brown’s Mill cop Wally last spoke to when he confessed to having underage sex in the old apple orchard. Today, Garafolo is calling about something else entirely: Wally’s cousin Kyle is missing. Twenty years ago, Wally fled his hometown in shame. He returns to a place that has barely changed, where he knows who walks the streets by day and who comes out at night. Now, as circumstances force him to confront the events that drove him to leave who he was far behind, Wally must also face dark truths about his family . . . about a shattering night and a crime that still haunts him and shaped the man he has become. If he has any hope of embracing the future, he must first make peace with his past. All American Boy is a stunning novel about forbidden love, forgiveness, and hard-won redemption. A gay man who fled his hometown in a cloud of scandal and guilt returns home to his estranged family—and the boy he left behind The first call is from Wally Day’s estranged mother, begging him to come home. The second is from Sebastian Garafolo, a Brown’s Mill cop Wally last spoke to when he confessed to having underage sex in the old apple orchard. Today, Garafolo is calling about something else entirely: Wally’s cousin Kyle is missing. Twenty years ago, Wally fled his hometown in shame. He returns to a place that has barely changed, where he knows who walks the streets by day and who comes out at night. Now, as circumstances force him to confront the events that drove him to leave who he was far behind, Wally must also face dark truths about his family . . . about a shattering night and a crime that still haunts him and shaped the man he has become. If he has any hope of embracing the future, he must first make peace with his past. All American Boy is a stunning novel about forbidden love, forgiveness, and hard-won redemption.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MO0MZQQ/?tag=2022091-20
William J. Mann was born on August 7, 1963, in Connecticut, United States, to William H. Mann and Carol (Soederlind) Mann.
Mann graduated from the Connecticut State University with a bachelor's degree in 1985. He received a master's degree from the Wesleyan University in 1987.
Early in his career, in the 1980s, Mann worked for American Representative Sam Gejdenson in Washington, as well as for United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications. Mann then became an assistant editor at the Hartford Monthly, serving there from 1988 till 1990. Next year he was appointed as an editor and publisher at the Metroline - a gay-lesbian newsmagazine. Mann stayed at the Metroline for four years.
Since 1992 he has served as a freelance journalist. Mann's works are represented in anthologies, including Men on Men, Volume 6, Plume; His, Volume 2, Faber; and Sister and Brother, HarperCollins. Mann is a contributor to periodicals, including Boston Phoenix, Boston Globe, Architectural Digest, Advocate and Out.
Mann's published his first novel The Men from the Boys in 1997. Next year he wrote a book titled Viking. In addition, Mann has written the nonfiction books, including Wisecracker (1998), Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood (2001), Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger (2005). In 2006, Mann published biography of Katharine Hepburn - Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn. The next his book came in 2009 - How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood. Hello Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand (Houghton Mifflin) followed in 2012. Two years later Mann published Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood.
Mann has also written children's books under the pseudonym Geoffrey Huntington.
(New York Times Bestseller Edgar Award winner for Best Fac...)
(The award-winning author presents a provocative, thorough...)
(The first major Katharine Hepburn biography independent o...)
(The first full accouning of the role of gays and lesbians...)
(A gay man who fled his hometown in a cloud of scandal and...)
(This classic novel by bestselling author William J. Mann ...)
(Award-winning author William J. Mann blends fact and fict...)
(“Masterful . . . Many books have been written about Strei...)