Desi Arnaz

“Deeply researched and clear-eyed about Arnaz’s talents as well as his struggles… . Purdum gives us Arnaz’s life story, and it’s an often surprising one.”
—Ty Burr, The Washington Post

“In many ways, Desi Arnaz was Ricky Ricardo, the character he played on television—creative, hardworking, excitable, lovable, an embracing personality, a natural entertainer… . Mr. Purdum tells this classic rise-and-fall story with an élan his subject would appreciate.”
—Scott Eyman, The Wall Street Journal

“Todd S. Purdum’s deeply researched, insightful and enjoyable biography gives Arnaz his due as an entertainer and a savvy businessman.”
—Douglass K. Daniel, Associated Press

“Desi Arnaz’s life ricocheted between privilege and economic hardship, creative peaks and alcoholic lows — the stuff of high drama. But it was comedy that secured his legacy… . As Todd S. Purdum relates in his intimate, often poignant biography, Arnaz was the driving force behind [I Love Lucy] and a pioneer of early television… . A nuanced portrait of both Arnaz’s gifts and his tragic shortcomings.”
—Julia M. Klein, The Los Angeles Times

“Revelatory … gives its subject long-overdue acknowledgement and appreciation.”
—Donald Liebenson, The Saturday Evening Post

“[Arnaz’s] legacy is forever and undeniable. Purdum does a bang-up job of spotlighting Arnaz’s many vital contributions to television history in this lively and engaging biography.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“Purdum successfully celebrates the vision and talent of Cuban-born actor Desi Arnaz… . [This] honest reflection of a complicated man is poignant and heartfelt.”
—Library Journal (starred review)

“A scintillating biography of I Love Lucy costar Desi Arnaz… . A vividly rendered tale of a TV tycoon’s spectacular rise and ignominious fall.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Todd S. Purdum is a veteran journalist and author. In a career of more than forty years, he has written widely about politics and culture, starting at The New York Times, where he spent twenty-three years, covering politics from city hall to the White House, later serving as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief. He has also been a staff writer at Vanity Fair, Politico, and The Atlantic. He is the author of Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution and An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers, with whom he has two grown children.

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