Irving Shulman Livres

Written in the 1960s, at the height of Jackie Kennedy’s popularity, this book addresses the pressures that American society placed on this strong, vibrant widow. Irving Shulman details Jackie’s life leading up to and following the death of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, focusing on the despicable and intrusive behavior of the media. Shulman sees Jackie as a victim of tabloid culture and uses her case to express his contempt for the American press.

These nine stories—many of them in novella length—display the entire scope of The Amboy Dukes, author Irving Shulman's unique style. Each offers a highly individual look at a segment of experience—caught mercilessly, ruthlessly explored, and with overtones that echo long after the reader has reached the end of the last page. Titles “Tears to Drown the Wind,” “Every Job's an Education” and “Your Hands Entrap my Quivering Heart”.

The Devil's Knee: In the eighteen years that have passed since they were last seen, Larry "Tunafish" Tunig and Simon "Bull" Bronstien have left their criminal careers behind and have been living the quiet life in Mexico City. "Bull," overcome by remorse for past misdeeds, has sought solace in religion, changing his name back to Simon, growing a beard and attending daily services at the local synagogue. But the mob won't leave them alone. Larry and Simon are recalled from Mexico and moved into a Beverly Hills mansion, where Larry is to preside as the fourth husband of Joyce Adams, once a Las Vegas whore, now the widow of the mob's big boss. Larry's assignment: to keep cops and reporters from snooping around. But how do you stay inconspicuous when your new stepdaughter is becoming one of the nation's leading rock stars, your pacifist buddy has attacked and maimed an anti-Semitic orator in the street, and a contingent of tommygun-wielding mobsters has just prevented three drug-crazed hippies from blowing up your house?

COLLEGE CONFIDENTIAL. Was his survey strictly scientific? Did the professor use his own apartment to "study" the lives of his students? College Confidential is the story of a scandal that erupts on a campus when a professor surveys his students' private lives in his own apartment.

The Square Trap. This is the story of an underage son of a Mexican immigrant worker who sought to settle his score in the boxing ring. Tomas Cantanios or just Tomas to his friends came from a loving family and enjoyed being as much of a kid as any poverty stricken child can in L.A. He was going to win the respect of his family and friends, his peers and his community as "Tommy Kansas", prize fighter, but these dreams were knocked into the world of reality as the starting bell rung and as fists began to fly at him with the fierce intent of survival. Irving Shulman puts you in a ringside seat as TOMMY KANSAS goes into action.

After being released from the Elmira reformatory Mitch (the central character of Cry Tough) has two ways to go. He could return to his family who loved him dearly, find a job and marry the girl who loved him. His other choice is the flashy, dangerous life as a hood with big risks and big rewards- cars, women, rich food and fancy apartments. Would he settle for the security of a job and family or would he take the road from which there was no turning back? In a classic story, Irving Shulman presents the struggle of one man. The allure of his life in the underworld, the sobering reality of his home life, what he really loves, what he really wants and how each element in his fragmented reality draws on him.

Harlow, An Intimate Biography, is the biography of Jean Harlow, the first of the typically American love goddesses as well as a presentation of the big-studio feudalism of the Thirties and a near sociological consideration of that American phenomenon, the sex symbol devised for mass consumption.