Praise for Sam Shepard: A Life
“First–time biographer Winters, a journalist and critic, meticulously presents the facts of Shepard’s complex life along with incisive descriptions and analyses of diverse productions of Shepard’s demanding and innovative plays.... Ultimately, Winters portrays Shepard as a magnetic, enigmatic, and multitalented artist drawing on a deep well of loneliness and self–questioning, keen attunement to the zeitgeist, and penetrating insight into human nature.”—Booklist, Starred Review
“[An] excellent biography . . . Mr. Winters is especially good on the backstage of one of Mr. Shepard’s most frequently revived works, True West . . . Mr. Winters has an interesting story to tell, and he recounts it ably, bringing us close to a figure who, he admits, avoids intimacy.” —The Wall Street Journal
“[A] new, thoroughly researched biography . . . Winters does indeed capture a personality more anxious and self–doubting than previous biographers have grasped.” —The Washington Post
“[A] literary fact–finding mission...”—Playbill
“Highly recommended to theater and movie lovers.”—Library Journal
“A journalist who has devoted years to Shepard's life and works debuts with a comprehensive account of the life of the prolific playwright, poet, fiction writer, musician, and more... [T]he book is unquestionably well–informed and –researched. A thorough, admiring work that is nonetheless honest about what the author views as Shepard's late–career decline.”—Kirkus
“John J. Winters gives us an engrossing view of a quirkily remarkable guy . . . Winters does a superb job of re–creating Shepard’s multi–faceted life, skillfully melding its professional and personal aspects in a continually interesting narrative. He offers useful synopses of nearly all Shepard’s plays, but eschews deep literary analysis of said works, since, as he points out, such material is available elsewhere. Winters displays his expertise as a longtime Shepard scholar, yet never forgets to tell a good story, as well . . . Hand in hand with the sobering news of his passing, this excellent book should inspire readers to revisit the Sam Shepard canon, both in print and on celluloid.'“ —Theater Jones
“Impeccably researched and beautifully written, author John Winters gives us an unflinching, deep dive into the psyche, imagination and soul of Sam Shepard. Packed with exclusive new details of Shepard's amazing and intriguing life, it's essential reading for fans of this enigmatic playwright, minstrel and actor.” —Dave Wedge, co–author of Boston Strong: A City's Triumph Over Tragedy and Challenge: The Story of Pete Frates and the Ice Bucket Challenge
“John Winters offers a master class in literary sleuthing, untangling the many lives and unearthing the origin story of America’s foremost Renaissance man of letters, Sam Shepard. One part literary detective story, one part un–put–downable page–turner, Sam Shepard: A Life will serve as the definitive account of one of the 20th century’s most enigmatic, beguiling and beloved figures of the stage, screen and page.” —Kelly Horan, WBUR radio and co–author of Devotion and Defiance: My Journey in Love, Faith and Politics.
“Winters has produced an engrossing examination of the enigmatic Sam Shepard in this first major (and unauthorized) biography. Drawing on widely scattered archival sources and dozens of interviews with Shepard’s family, friends and colleagues, he has deftly sorted out the authentic ore of fact from the farrago of legends, rumors and canards surrounding one of the greatest playwrights and actors of our time. Along the way Winters has shrewdly delineated Shepard’s relations with Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Wim Wenders, and Jessica Lange, the love of his life.” —Michael Lennon, author of Norman Mailer: A Double Life
04/01/2017
A Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright for Buried Child, Sam Shepard (b. 1943) is an enigma in the world of theater and film. Nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff, he is also accomplished in other performing arts, notably music and songwriting. Several of Shepard's plays have been on Broadway, including Buried Child as well as True West. The first part of journalist, critic, and Shepard scholar Winters's book discusses Shepard's early years and his stormy relationship with his father while growing up in Illinois and California. It delves into Shepard's romantic relationships, including with singer-songwriter Patti Smith, and the great love of his life, actress Jessica Lange. Although Shepard was fiercely private about his relationship with Lange, this volume details their romance and the journals they would write to each other. Other interesting people making appearances include the playwright's former father-in-law and best friend Johnny Dark, with whom Shepard filmed the documentary Shepard and Dark. VERDICT Highly recommended to theater and movie lovers.—Holly Skir, York Coll., CUNY
2017-02-06
A journalist who has devoted years to Shepard's life and works debuts with a comprehensive account of the life of the prolific playwright, poet, fiction writer, musician, and more.Although Winters, who has written for the Boston Globe and numerous other publications, tells us that he's not writing an extensive description and assessment of Shepard's work, he does just that. Readers who are not aficionados of Shepard's work will be surprised by his vast output and range. The story begins in 1964 in Greenwich Village, when Samuel Shepard Rogers (he later dropped the surname) was beginning to see his revolutionary works produced. Then Winters goes back to Shepard's birth in 1943 and marches steadily forward until the present. Using his unsurpassed knowledge of the various Shepard archives and the contents of his interviews of those involved in Shepard's life and career, Winters shows us connections between the playwright's life and works and provides details about his various relationships with women—including the rise and fall and mild rise again of his involvement with actress Jessica Lange. Shepard himself, however, did not participate in the publication. Throughout, the author emphasizes his subject's prolific output, including plays, film scripts, performances in films, and music, which he frequently has integrated with the texts of his plays. Winters also reveals the extent of Shepard's friendship with collaborator Joseph Chaikin and his work with Bob Dylan. We don't learn much about how Shepard works except that, early on, he preferred to work at night and remains computer-less. Winters is generally nonjudgmental, though he does disdain a few works and declares A Lie of the Mind (1985) as Shepard's greatest. Though not always gracefully written, the book is unquestionably well-informed and -researched. A thorough, admiring work that is nonetheless honest about what the author views as Shepard's late-career decline.
