The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe

By Sarah Churchwell

'Ferociously smart. A rare combination of guilty pleasure and intellectual insight' VOGUE

'Perceptive. Refreshing. Tears away layers of false readings and conspiracy theories' NEW YORK TIMES

Intricately researched. Churchwell's Marilyn is a complex, well-rounded creature in the best sense – the human sense' OBSERVER

There are many Marilyns: sex goddess and innocent child, crafty manipulator and dumb blonde, screen legend and Hollywood victim.

In this incisive and subtle book, Sarah Churchwell looks at how the stories we tell have trivialised a woman we supposedly adore, and at what they reveal about our attitudes towards sex symbols and icons, to women, death, biography and Marilyn herself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Mar 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781526613332

Sarah Churchwell

Sarah Churchwell is Professor of American Literature and Chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. She is the author of Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and The Invention of The Great Gatsby and The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe. Her literary journalism has appeared widely in newspapers including the Guardian, New Statesman, Financial Times, Times Literary Supplement and New York Times Book Review, and she comments regularly on arts, culture, and politics for television and radio, where appearances include Question Time, Newsnight and The Review Show. She has judged many literary prizes, including the 2017 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction, the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and she was a co-winner of the 2015 Eccles British Library Writer's Award. Her new book, Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream, will be published by Bloomsbury in May 2018.

Reviews for The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe

[desiree85_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is a must have for any Marilyn fan. It explains, in depth, the multiple misconceptions and stories of Marilyn's life and film career which as any Marilyn fan knows, is a lot. I wouldn't consider this a biography, but more of a study on who Marilyn is and what she means, and the different roads her story has taken throughout the years.