Kashner, Sam and Schoenberger, Nancy. Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century. Harper/Collins.
Forget the Kardashians. Any of the so-called "Real Housewives" fades in comparison. "The Hills?" That's a laugh. Taylor and Burton's romantic and working relationship was the first media reality show coming at the dawn of the paparazzi. From their open affair on the set of "Cleopatra", through two marriages and divorces every up and down of the couple was considered "newsworthy". Merrick native Sam Kashner and his wife Nancy Schoenberger utilize interviews with Elizabeth Taylor plus diaries and correspondence of Richard Burton provided by his family. Through them we see an actress used to being indulged since childhood and a gifted actor who tried to drown with alcohol a lifetime of self-loathing. One comes to question whether the now (in)famous Taj Mahal diamond Burton gave to Taylor was presented as a love OR peace offering. And one wonders if the duo were coming to terms before Burtons' 1984 death.
Also by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger at Merrick Library:
A Talent for Genius: The Life and Times of Oscar Levant
Also by Sam Kashner:
The Bad and the Beautiful: Hollywood in the Fifties
When I Was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School
Reviewed by librarian, Bob.
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