Boulevard of Broken DreamsThe Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean

As an icon of art and death, James Dean is only surpassed by Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. But until now no serious biography has looked beyond the Hollywood-manufactured cliché to the volatile polarities, conflicted sexuality, and childhood trauma of the person himself. Was he bisexual, gay? A neurotic con artist, or a lost boy trying to find himself?

This revisionist, passionate portrait, based on many new and documented sources and featuring never-before published photographs, argues that Dean's angst-ridden compliance - in public - with rigid sexual mores helped fuel the fury and electricity of his acting. Its conclusions will be a revelation to film buffs, gay readers, pop-culture aficionados, and everyone concerned with the ethics of image versus reality.

Paul Alexander is the editor of Ariel Ascending, a collection of essays about Sylvia Plath. He is also the author of Rough Magic (Viking, 1991), a biography of Plath, and Death and Disaster, a book about the death and estate of Andy Warhol. A former reporter for Time magazine, he has published articles in The New York Times Magazine, New York, The Nation, Cosmopolitan, Premiere, the Village Voice, ARTnews, and The Guardian. He lives in New York City.