A Man's World: Portraits

by Steve Oney

Overview

A MAN'S WORLD is a collection of 20 profiles of fascinating men by author and magazine writer Steve Oney. Written over a 40-year period for publications including Esquire, Premiere, GQ, Time, Los Angeles, and The Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine, the stories bring to life the famous (Harrison Ford), the brilliant (Robert Penn Warren), the tortured (Gregg Allman), and the unknown (Chris Leon, a 20-year-old Marine Corps corporal killed in the Iraq war). Several of the articles are prize winners. "The Talented Mr. Raywood" won the City and Regional Magazine Association Award for best profile in an American city magazine. "Herschel Walker Doesn't Tap Out" won the Chicago Headline Club's Peter Lisagor Award for best magazine sports story. "Hollywood Fixer" won the Los Angeles Press Club Award for best magazine profile. "The Casualty of War" was a finalist for Columbia University's National Magazine Award. Although Oney has written about many other subjects during his career (his first book, AND THE DEAD SHALL RISE: THE MURDER OF MARY PHAGAN AND THE LYNCHING OF LEO FRANK, is an epic exploration of an infamous criminal case), he realized early that he was interested in how men face challenges and cope with success—and failure. He was drawn to fighters, creators, actors, and desperadoes, seeing in their struggles something of his own. His agent, an ardent feminist, urged him to collect the best of his articles in a book. A MAN'S WORLD is the result.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780881466188
Publisher:	Mercer University Press
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Steve Oney is the author of AND THE DEAD SHALL RISE, winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award, the Southern Book Critics Circle Prize, and the National Jewish Book Award. Oney was educated at the University of Georgia and at Harvard, where he was a Nieman Fellow. He lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Fighters 9

1 Herschel Walker Doesn't Tap Out: At 50, the Heisman Trophy winner enters the world of mixed martial arts, battling men half his age (Playboy, December 2011) 11

2 The Casualty of War: The Marine Corps saved Chris Leon's life and took him to his death-all before he turned 21 (Los Angeles, June 2007) 23

3 The Method and the Madness of Hubie Brown: The well-traveled coach berates, cajoles, and wills the Atlanta Hawks to victory (The Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine, December 9, 1979) 52

4 Hollywood Fixer. Aaron Cohen learned how to kill in the Israeli Special Services, which is why he's Hollywood's most sought after security consultant (Playboy, December 2010) 66

5 The Real Jake: Jake Jacoby began covering the LAPD in the 1930s. Still on the beat fifty years later, he broke the Night Stalker case. Unlike most journalists, he believes his job is to fight crime (GQ, May 1986) 78

Creators 93

6 Robert Penn Warren Finds His Place to Come To: The three-time Pulitzer winner looks back (The Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine, September 16, 1979) 95

7 Portman's Complaint: John Portman built modern Atlanta and changed the face of urban America by bucking the architectural establishment. The establishment didn't like it (Esquire, June 1987) 114

8 Herb Alpert: Always in Tune: How a Jewish boy from Los Angeles created the Tijuana Brass, sold more albums than the Beatles, and founded America's greatest independent record label (Los Angeles, May 2011) 127

9 That Championship Season: Before Brandon Tartikoff could rule prime time, he had to turn NBC around. Here's what it took (California, February 1984) 142

10 The Big Mocker: Mark Lisanti, AKA "the Defamer," reinvents Hollywood gossip (Los Angeles, December 2005) 165

Actors 179

11 An Ordinary Man: Harrison Ford wants to be alone (Premiere, March 1988) 181

12 Moon over Hollywood: Dennis Franz bares his derriere on prime time and his soul in private (Playboy, July 1995) 191

13 The Nolte Nobody Knows: Nick Nolte is scared of life. But he's fearless onscreen (Premiere, March 1989) 203

14 A Character Actor Reaches Cult Status: Harry Dean Stanton has died more often on camera than anyone else in the film business (The New York Times Magazine, November 16, 1987) 214

15 G'Days: After marrying into English nobility, cocksure Australian Bryan Brown came to Hollywood (GQ, April 1990) 223

Desperadoes 237

16 Fallen Angel: Bo Belinsky pitched California's first major league no hitter. He dated beautiful movie stars. He died alone, a cocaine addict (Los Angeles, June 2005) 239

17 A Sinner's Second Chance: Gregg Allman lost his brother Duane to a motorcycle wreck. He married Cher and went cold turkey from heroin. Along the way he sang the blues like no other white man (Esquire, November 1984) 259

18 Citizen Breitbart: Conservative provocateur and online scamp Andrew Breibart helped to create today's rude, crude media reality (Time, April 5, 2010) 269

19 The Talented Mr. Raywood: Craig Raywood, a silky smooth interior designer, conned, his way through the richest neighborhoods in New York and Los Angeles (Los Angeles, November-December 2008) 275

20 Getting Naked with Harry: Novelist Harry Crews knew only one way to live and write-the hard way (The Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine, May 15, 1977) 316

Afterword 325

Acknowledgments 329

Editorial Reviews

2017-02-05
Veteran journalist Oney (And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank, 2003, etc.) pulls together 20 magazine features from three decades of his career.In an insightful introduction, the author explains why all of the pieces, published from 1977 to 2011, focus on "fascinating" men rather than other topics. Oney decided it would be useful for readers to explain how men become strong, resilient, and compassionate in contemporary American society. After all, he writes, "no one taught me how to be a man," so maybe male readers would end up better informed and able "to create" and "to explore their inner darkness." Oney divides his profiles into four sections. First comes "Fighters," which includes profiles of Herschel Walker and his post-football life, the combat death of young Marine Chris Leon, the techniques of professional basketball coach Hubie Brown, Hollywood security consultant and former Israeli warrior Aaron Cohen, and veteran police reporter Jake Jacoby. Section 2 features "Creators," including novelist Robert Penn Warren, architect John Portman, musician Herb Alpert, TV executive Brandon Tartikoff, and Hollywood gossip columnist Mark Lisanti. In "Actors," Oney covers Harrison Ford, Dennis Franz, Nick Nolte, Harry Dean Stanton, and Bryan Brown. The final section, "Desperadoes," focuses on professional baseball star-turned-cocaine addict Bo Belinsky, musician Gregg Allman, political provocateur Andrew Breitbart, interior designer con man Craig Raywood, and novelist Harry Crews. In the afterword, Oney illuminates how researching and writing the features taught him lessons about journalism and about developing confidence to make his way as a man—fighting, creating, acting, and embracing danger. Throughout, the author displays his strong reporting skills and engaging prose. Although every piece focuses on men, the variation of subjects and the different writing styles combine in a journalism anthology more satisfying than most.

Kirkus Reviews