{"product_id":"9780312610517","title":"David Susskind : A Televised Life","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eDavid Susskind\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Stephen Battaglio\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eDavid Susskind was the first TV producer to become a TV star. His freewheeling discussion program Open End, later known as The David Susskind Show, brought the turbulent issues of the 1960s and provocative social trends of the 1970s into the nation's living rooms at a time when television was tame. Susskind grilled everyone from a Mafia hit man to transsexuals to a famously hilarious Mel Brooks. Behind the camera, he was a high-minded, flamboyant New York impresario who took risks and railed against the Hollywood establishment. He battled the TV network practice of blacklisting, brought great actors such as Sir Laurence Olivier to prime time and fought to make gritty shows (East Side\/West Side, N.Y.P.D., Death of a Salesman) that accurately reflected the human condition. His feature film output included such groundbreaking works as A Raisin In the Sun and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Through it all, Susskind was an enfant terrible with an insatiable appetite for women and a scorn for the business side of his profession that left his career hanging by a thread more than once. David Susskind: A Televised Life is a wild ride through an expansive and glamorous time in the entertainment industry and an incisive look at one of its most colorful and influential players.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“As a kid growing up in Nebraska in the sixties, it was David Susskind's talk show--Mailer! Vidal! Steinem! Capote! Malcolm X!--that made me start mentally packing my bags for New York and a writer's life. But who knew he was also producing the TV series (\u003ci\u003eEast Side\/West Side\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGet Smart!\u003c\/i\u003e) and movies (by Scorsese, Altman, Peckinpah) that I loved? Stephen Battaglio has produced a fascinating, definitive portrait of one of the kings of the \u003ci\u003eMad Men\u003c\/i\u003e era.” —\u003ci\u003eKurt Andersen, author of Heyday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“David Susskind's remarkable career perfectly parallels the evolution of American television in the twentieth Century.  Stephen Battaglio skillfully intertwines the history of the man and the history of the medium into an engrossing biography.” —\u003ci\u003eMary Ann Watson, professor of Electronic Media and Film Studies, Eastern Michigan University, and author of The Expanding Vista: American Television in the Kennedy Years\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A detailed, authoritative biography, written with an emotional edge” —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A great book!” —\u003ci\u003eChris Matthews, MSNBC\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Stephen Battaglio gives flesh and blood to one of early television's feistiest champions.” —\u003ci\u003eKathy Newman, American Quarterly (The Journal of the American Studies Association)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A fascinating biography that covers both Mr. Susskind's life and the history of early television.” —\u003ci\u003eKing Features Syndicate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The media impresario Battaglio depicts in \u003ci\u003eDavid Susskind: A Televised Life\u003c\/i\u003e goes far beyond anything a scriptwriter might imagine...a well-researched and highly readable biography.” —\u003ci\u003eRobert Fulford, The National Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The strength of \u003ci\u003eDavid Susskind: A Televised Life\u003c\/i\u003e, Stephen Battaglio's thoroughly researched book, is its sense of history… Susskind comes through, one of television's loudest, most provocative lions.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A wonderful new book which, frankly, should be required reading in any college media curriculum. It details not just the high points of producing but the frustrations and heartbreak that go, as they say, with the territory even with someone as famous and successful as David Susskind.” —\u003ci\u003eDan O'Brien, Reelgrok.com\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This enjoyable biography of the media swashbuckler of the 50s through the 70s kind of reads like a thriller too, the high velocity business kind.” —\u003ci\u003eSullivan County Democrat\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eDavid Susskind: A Televised Life\u003c\/i\u003e makes the case for remembering an impresario who brought a brash exuberance to the rough-and-tumble of ideas and social issues.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Jewish Daily Forward\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780312610517\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"St. Martin's Griffin","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40626126618830,"sku":"9780312610517","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780312610517","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}