BALL OF FIRE(ISBN=) 英文原版

　　As a movie actress Lucille Ball was, in her own words, “queen
of the B-pluses.” But on the small screen she was a
superstar–arguably the funniest and most enduring in the history of
TV. In this exemplary biography, Stefan Kanfer explores the roots
of Lucy’s genius and places it in the context of her conflicted and
sometimes bitter personal life.
　　Ball of Fire gives us Lucy in all her contradictions. Here is the
beauty who became a master of knock-down slapstick; the control
freak whose comic alter ego thrived on chaos, the worshipful TV
housewife whose real marriage ended in public disaster. Here, too,
is an intimate view of the dawn of television and of the America
that embraced it. Charming, informative, touching. and
laugh-out-loud funny, this is the book Lucy’s fans have been
waiting for.

　　Stefan Kanfer’s books include The Eighth Sin,
A Summer World, The Last Empire,
Serious Business, and Groucho. He was a writer
and editor at Time for more than twenty years. A Literary
Lion of the New York Public Library and recipient of numerous
writing awards, Kanfer is currently in the Distinguished Writer
program at Southampton College, Long Island University. He lives in
New York and Cape Cod.

　　?Among Stefan Kanfer?s gifts as a biographer are scrupulous
research, fine judgement, and a critical knowledge of the wider
world. But what sets him apart is his sense of music, which allows
him to see the inexpressible. In Ball of Fire he gives us Lucy,
whose life was hard and collapsible, yet who enchanted us because
she was the music.?
　　?Roger Rosenblatt
　　?While paying close mind to the details of an astonishing career,
Kanfer also illuminates the inner turmoil…Kanfer gently conveys
how great she was and how small she could be.?  
　　?N.Y. Daily News
　　?Canny critic and cultural historian Kanfer…[with] entertaining
and thoughtful observations bring(s) The Redhead into sharp
focus.”
　　?Kirkus
　　”…excellent, compulsively readable…”
　　?Publisher’s Weekly
　　?Ball of Fire is a memorable portrait of its subject in all her
gifted weirdness.?
　　?Washington Post Book World
　　?Ball of Fire does convey a vivid sense of [Lucy’s]
fearlessness.  Stefan Kanfer has the whole heroic
story.”
　　?New York Times Book Review
　　From the Hardcover edition. — Review