James Kaplan's essays, stories, reviews and profiles have appeared in numerous magazines, including the New Yorker,the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Esquire and New York. His novels include Pearl's Progress and Two Guys from Verona, a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. His nonfiction works include The Airport, You Cannot Be Serious (co-authored with John McEnroe), Dean & Me: A Love Story (with Jerry Lewis), Frank: The Voice, and Sinatra: The Chairman. He lives in Westchester, New York.
"Praise for Sinatra: The Chairman: Meticulously researched . . . Kaplan draws from previous biographies and the memoirs of Sinatra's lovers and fellow travellers, but the pithy narrative is his own, as are his persuasive critiques of the music * * Guardian * * Monumental * * Financial Times * * Endlessly engaging * * Wall Street Journal * * Hugely readable, vastly entertaining * * New Yorker * * [Kaplan does a] nimble job of tracing the singer's continued rise to international fame, and credibly explicates the alchemy behind the singer's collaboration with Nelson Riddle and their amazing achievement during the Capitol Records year * * New York Times * * 3 Shades of Blue is an instant classic, one that both jazz fanatics and casual fans will love. James Kaplan sweeps us into the dazzling world of Swing Street after World War II, a scene as mythical and magical as Pablo Picasso's Paris, Timothy Leary's San Francisco or Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord. It is an intimate, enthralling portrait of the titans of 20th-century music - ""friends and geniuses together"" - and the revolution they created -- DEBBY APPLEGATE, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of MADAM"