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Frank

The Voice
by James Kaplan
Frank: The Voice. Doubleday. Nov. 2010. c.688p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780385518048. $35. MUSIC
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Singer and pop icon Frank Sinatra is hardly a neglected personage. While novelist and celebrity coauthor Kaplan (Dean & Me, with Jerry Lewis; You Cannot Be Serious, with John McEnroe) clearly respects Sinatra's enormous talent, the hagiographic tone common in Sinatra books is absent here, though he is not as negative as Anthony Summers and Robyn Swan (Sinatra: The Life). Kaplan covers Sinatra's life from his birth in 1915 until the resurrection of his career in 1954 (when he won an Oscar for his role as Maggio in From Here to Eternity). His youth, persistence in pursuing a singing career, relationships with women, work with bandleader Tommy Dorsey, the controversial reversal of his draft status during World War II, and relationships with musicians and mafiosi are all presented with panache and clarity.
VERDICT While this book may be the fullest account of Sinatra's first 40 years, libraries will want to have other books—perhaps Richard Havers's Sinatra—for covering his career and more in-depth analysis of his music and films.
Reviewed by Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville , Sep 01, 2010
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