Nevertheless: A Memoir

by Alec Baldwin

Overview

“Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving . . . . [Baldwin] is a highly literate and fluent writer.” —New York Times

Over the past three decades, Alec Baldwin has established himself as one of Hollywood’s most gifted, hilarious, and controversial leading men. From his work in popular movies, including Beetlejuice, Working Girl, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cooler, and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed to his role as Jack Donaghy on Tina Fey’s irreverent series 30 Rock—for which he won two Emmys, three Golden Globes, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards—and as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, he’s both a household name and a deeply respected actor.

In Nevertheless, Baldwin transcends his public persona, making public facets of his life he has long kept private. In this honest, affecting memoir, he introduces us to the Long Island child who felt burdened by his family’s financial strains and his parents’ unhappy marriage; the college student gearing up for a career in politics; the self-named “Love Taxi” who helped friends solve their romantic problems while neglecting his own; the young soap actor learning from giants of the theatre; the addict drawn to drugs and alcohol who struggles with sobriety; the husband and father who acknowledges his failings and battles to overcome them; and the consummate professional for whom the work is everything.

Told with his signature candor, astute observational savvy, and devastating wit, Nevertheless reveals an Alec Baldwin we have never fully seen before.

“[A] rich, fascinating, occasionally irascible chronicle.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Swift, eloquent, witty.” —Chicago Tribune

“A pleasure.” —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062409737
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	275
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Alec Baldwin is a multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor, producer, comedian, and philanthropist. He has also been nominated for an Oscar and a Tony Award and the author of the New York Times bestseller A Promise to Ourselves. He lives in New York City with his wife, Hilaria, and their three children.

Editorial Reviews

…a thorough and sophisticated effort to answer an interesting question: How did an indifferently raised, self-flagellating kid from a just-making-ends-meet, desultorily functioning Long Island family, in Massapequa, turn into Alec Baldwin, gifted actor, familiar public figure, impressively thoughtful person, notorious pugilist? The passages about his childhood—his mother overwhelmed, depressed, lying in bed surrounded by laundry; his father working at a school; six siblings fighting for space and resources in a two-bedroom house, their parents unable to afford even a washing machine—are beautifully written and unexpectedly moving…Nevertheless…is full of unexpectedly sharp descriptions.…[Baldwin is] a highly literate and fluent writer…

The New York Times - Sarah Lyall

[A] rich, fascinating, occasionally irascible chronicle.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Swift, eloquent, witty.” — Chicago Tribune

From the Publisher

Swift, eloquent, witty.

Chicago Tribune

[A] rich, fascinating, occasionally irascible chronicle.

Entertainment Weekly

Swift, eloquent, witty.

Chicago Tribune

A rollicking, captivating peek into one of the world’s most vainglorious industries, as well as a sincerely moving portrait of the artist. . . . As he chronicles this tumultuous coming of age, one marked by the straining of relationships and the spilling of family secrets, it’s easy to get lost in the natural arc Baldwin builds, all broken dreams, earth-shifting drama, lucky breaks, eternal heartache, and addiction—early chapters are like Fitzgerald crossed with Cheever.

The Globe and Mail

Alexander Baldwin III is something of an American treasure . . . ‘Nevertheless’ is a blunt object wielded by a man of sharp intellect against his own soul. . . . It’s refreshing to read a celebrity memoir that is not painted in pastels and glossed with self-actualization, that does not ride off into the sunset after rewarding projects and hurdled obstacles. . . . Evocative.

Washington Post

Some memoirs invite speed-reading until the juicier ‘fame’ chapters; but Baldwin, an eloquent writer who attempts to see his past through various vantage points, creates a vivid look at the boy who lost his distant father, whom he adored, too young; the burgeoning young TV star who abused cocaine and alcohol in his 20s, and the man who would gamble on movie fame over Broadway in the mid-90s—and come to regret it. Readers who come for showbiz dish will leave well-served . . . . remarkably raw, human and relatable. . . . Think you know Baldwin? Nevertheless, you still may want to pick up his book.

USA Today

Told with intelligence and passion . . . This book is a must.

Huffington Post on A Promise to Ourselves

Vivid [and] deeply felt.

New York Times Book Review on A Promise to Ourselves

11/15/2016
Multi-award-winning actor Baldwin follows up his New York Times best-selling A Promise to Ourselves with a memoir tracking his burdened Long Island childhood, struggles as a young actor, and successful career shadowed by troubles with addiction and acknowledged failings as a husband and father. With a 250,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

Comic actor and political activist Alec Baldwin delivers a very personal—actually, arrogantly self-centered—memoir. There is little of interest or appeal in the protagonist’s feeling powerfully sorry for himself as a lower-middle-class Long Island child and young man who was raised in a single-family home with more limited funds than his neighbors. But Baldwin’s persona as a talented actor is a powerhouse behind the microphone. He will likely reach out and absorb the listener’s focused attention, despite a text that offers little deep insight into his life, celebrated as it might be. Blame and anger predominate in this story of eventual big success. Baldwin fans will likely be enthusiastic at learning the details, however they may be slanted in his favor and however much he uses his significant presentation skills to convince. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2017 - AudioFile