In Black and White, Wil Haygood
In Black and White, Wil Haygood
List: $34.99 | Sale: $24.50
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In Black and White
The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr.

Author: Wil Haygood

Narrator: Kevin R. Free

Unabridged: 23 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/28/2004


Synopsis

This biography of entertainment legend Sammy Davis, Jr. is an enthralling portrait of one of the most recognizable figures from the golden age of American show business. Davis, a guarded man who protected his private life with great vigor, lived an extraordinary life in the limelight, while also forging new uncharted paths across racial lines.

About Wil Haygood

A Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities fellow and a writer for the Washington Post, Wil Haygood has been described as a cultural historian. He is the author of a trio of iconic biographies. His King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., told the story of the enigmatic New York congressman and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. That was followed—after publication of a family memoir—by In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr., which was awarded the ASCAP Deems Taylor Music Biography Award, the Zora Neale Hurston-Richard Wright Legacy Award, and the Nonfiction Book of the Year Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. In 2009, he wrote Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson, which told the story of the famed New York pugilist known as much for his prowess in the ring as his elegant style outside of it. Haygood is an associate producer of Lee Daniels’ The Butler.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barry

Sammy Davis Jr. started as a child in Vaudeville with a tap dance trio, consisting of his father and Will Mastin, the manager and promotor of The Will Mastin Trio. He became the mainstay of the act, moving into singing, comedy, spokesperson, impressions and all-round entertaining. As an adult, he ad......more

Goodreads review by Mia

This book is both wonderful and infuriating in equal measure. First, the positive, the sheer amount of research that has been done is stunning and goes far beyond the life of Sammy Davis Jr. There are many anecdotes from people who had not spoken about Sammy before and these help to paint a clearer......more

Goodreads review by F.R.

This excellent biography fixes Sammy Davis jr in the various turbulent times he lived through, and goes someway to explaining how he could sometimes seem so out of step with the world around him. The narrative flows with ease from the vaudeville days of the 30s to the civil rights movement of the 60......more