Ferocious Ambition: Joan Crawford's March to Stardom

Robert Dance's new evaluation of Joan Crawford looks at her entire career and--while not ignoring her early years and tempestuous personal life--focuses squarely on her achievements as an actress, and as a woman who mastered the studio system with a rare combination of grit, determination, beauty, and talent.

Crawford's remarkable forty-five-year motion picture career is one of the industry's longest. Signing her first contract in 1925, she was crowned an MGM star four years later and by th...