All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra [Hardcover]

Donald Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

In this biography we meet the complete Sinatra -- the headlinegrabbing playboy as well as the extraordinary artist and icon.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

With The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Viking, 1991) on his roster of publications, Clarke is a creditable author in the pop music field. This latest, masterfully written effort--well researched and exemplifying an easy-to-follow style--should extend his reputation. Sinatra grew up the spoiled only child of Italian immigrants in Hoboken, New Jersey, and his mother predicted he would turn out to be a bum. Singing was his only aspiration, and he chased this dream with all he had. Sinatra remains one of the best-selling entertainers of the 20th century, but Clarke does not gloss over the singer's dark side--his involvement with the mob and his numerous, stormy love affairs, for instance. As evidence of his enduring popularity, about a dozen biographers have honored him in only the last two years, including his daughter. This work, however, is among the best and should circulate well in most public libraries. --Regina L. Beach, Mississippi State Univ. Lib, Starkville
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A fascinating and flowing story, replete with details . . . This book has much to recommend it, and it is an excellent place to start reading about Sinatra." -- Leslie Gourse, Jazz Notes

"By far the best and most complete of the spate of books about Sinatra . . . takes an honest, non-judgmental tone with the singer's life, but doesn't sugarcoat anything. It is a far more elegant work than the bottom-feeders . . . Sinatra fans will want to pick up Clarke's book." -- Mark Chapman, Boston Sunday Herald

"Effectively conveys a sense of the time and place in which Sinatra was important." -- Publishers Weekly

"The most objective view of Sinatra's extraordinary life is to be found in Clarke's All or Nothing at All . . . Clarke's astute and succinct appraisals of Sinatra's albums and live performances are the best." -- Terry Lawson, Knight-Ridder --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 290 pages
• Publisher: Fromm Intl; 1st Fromm International ed edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880641819
• ISBN-13: 978-0880641814
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,124,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent and Opinionated Book, August 6, 2005

By 

Mark K. Mcdonough "Mark McDonough" (Reston, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra (Paperback)

Frank Sinatra was always a puzzle -- he sang like an angel, behaved like a jerk, and yet was apparently an extremely generous individual who kept his many charities secret.

Donald Clarke sits with all the contradictions of Sinatra, both musical and personal, without attempting to simplify them. The reviewer below who complained that the book is like an extended essay is right. Clarke does not attempt, in this relatively slim volume, to write the definitive biographical work. It is instead a shrewd, opinionated, and often funny review of the man and his music.

I'm not a FS fanatic, but I do own about 40 or 50 of his albums, which I guess makes me more than a casual fan. I almost always agreed with Clarke's musical judgements (although I think rather more of "Live at the Sands" than he does) and found a lot of value in the way he attempts to separate Sinatra's own bloviations from the facts (e.g. was Mitch Miller really responsible for how bad much of Sinatra's mid-50s work is? Not really, says Clarke, and gives reasons for this opinion).

This book is not a replacement for a full-length biography -- if you want the details on who slapped who first in every fight he had with Ava Gardner, you'll have to go elsewhere. It's also not a replacement for an annotated discography, although it made me hungry for one -- I thought I had a pretty good handle on Sinatra's recorded output, and Clarke made me realize there's a lot I don't know.

As for Clarke's writing style, I say "bravo." Judging by the impish grin he's wearing in the jacket photo, I'd say he's well aware of how provocative some of his comments are, but there's nothing arrogant about this book. Clarke has his opinions, and states them very strongly, but it's clear the reader is welcome to his or her own. If you're the sort of reader who is secure enough to enjoy strongly held and amusingly stated beliefs rather than be upset by them, I recommend this book most highly.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real picture by someone who knows music: extremely useful, August 9, 1999

By 

Jon Warshawsky "Sinatra Guru" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra (Hardcover)

Five stars isn't enough.

I love FS and his music, but I am not a blind teenage hero worshipper. Part of the reason I'm a big, big, big FS fan is because he was REAL and even if he made a slew of the best recordings ever (period!) you can learn a lot about someone by getting the whole picture which includes some troublesome aspects of Sinatra's personality. If you consider the truly creative giants in all arts, many of them were not exactly what you would call well-adapted. Many of them are drug users or suicides at some point. Sinatra lived his art and his life like a man possessed, as I think Clarke mentions, and it may have been the man's sometimes "foolish fury" that made him the unequivocal entertainer of the century (to use the recordmakers' term.) A lot of the people FS ran into trouble with weren't all that righteous (the journalists, for example), and I think Clarke tells it like it was. If FS picked some bad fights, so be it; I have picked some bad fights in my life because I have one thing in common with Sinatra (definitely not my lousy voice!): I'm human and I'm flawed.

I don't buy inane music biographies that paint useless, glowing pictures of musicians. Such books are a complete waste of money.

This book is fascinating precisely because it frames Sinatra's music and life in terms of his era and his background -- the Dorsey era isn't just a nice bit of trivia, it really shaped FS' career for decades and it is astounding to look at how many Dorsey tunes were remade during the Columbia and Capitol years (and later!) It is immensely rewarding to listen to songs evolve from boyish ballads to swinging numbers over the years; American popular music came of age through Sinatra's microphone, and I think a careful reading of Clark brings this home -- be sure to have the recordings handy to play in the background while you read. His movies? I tend to like them more than I should because FS is in them, but seriously how many times can you watch the Rat Pack movies and enjoy them (once is pushing it...).

For what it's worth, I have found most of Mr. Clarke's comments regarding albums to be spot on. I own nearly 50 FS albums, and when I think about the ones I play most often they tend to coincide with albums Clarke portrays favorably.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A third-rate book written by a second-rate writer, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra (Hardcover)

You get the feeling reading this book that Donald Clarke sees himself as a far more noble and heroic character than some mere mortal like Frank Sinatra. Clarke has taken self-righteousness and developed it into something approaching an art form. A waste of time, a waste of money, a waste of paper, glue, ink, and whatever else was needed to print this "biography". By the way, give the word "biography" the loosest interpretation possible. Donald Clarke has even less of a clue as to what the word "biograpy" means and his book is the best evidence to support my thesis.