Nashawaty (Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman, King of the B Movie) provides a thorough look at the 1980 golfing comedy classic and the sex, drugs, and Kenny Loggins soundtrack that drove its making. Starting in the mid-1960s, Nashawaty traces Caddyshack's genealogy starting with writers from the Harvard Lampoon forming National Lampoon magazine, the shift in emphasis from writing to acting with National Lampoon's radio show and albums, the loss of talent to higher-profile gigs on Saturday Night Live, and finally, National Lampoon regaining importance with the wildly successful film Animal House. By the time Caddyshack is given the green light (roughly 100 pages in), the reader has a comprehensive knowledge of the 1970s New York comedy scene. Among the book's large cast of characters (Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Rodney Dangerfield), Doug Kenney stands out as the central, tragic figure—a boy genius who helped launch National Lampoon and who cowrote and produced Caddyshack but died mysteriously shortly after its release. VERDICT Casual readers will be better served by skipping the first half of this book and diving into the pot- and cocaine-fueled high jinks, cast and crew memories, and Hollywood drama collected here.—Terry Bosky, Madison, WI