Martha Stewart: Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography [Hardcover]

Jerry Oppenheimer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1997

Based on some four hundred exclusive, candid interviews with family members, confidantes, colleagues, and present and former friends and associates, this scrupulously researched investigative biography tells for the first time the real story of Martha Stewart's personal life, and her phenomenal rise to the top. Martha Stewart - Just Desserts reveals the secrets of Stewart's disturbing childhood, her tempestuous marriage and ugly divorce, and her Mommy Dearest relationship with her only child. Oppenheimer recounts a classic Cinderella tale of the transformation of a poor Polish-American girl in Nutley, New Jersey, to Glamour magazine model, to Wall Street stockbroker, to chic Connecticut caterer, to bestselling author and television star, to powerful head of a multimedia conglomerate, to belle of America's A-list glitterati ball. And it is all described in fascinating, juicy detail by the people who helped her - and by those she stepped on along the way. This is an intriguing, explosive tale that will surprise and shock even the most ardent Martha Stewart fans. Whether you love Martha Stewart or loathe her, you will be amazed by the stunning revelations in this book. Martha Stewart - Just Desserts shatters the myth of the Perfect Martha once and for all - and that's good thing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You'll want to wear old clothes: Jerry Oppenheimer's biography of Style Doyenne Martha Stewart is a frenzy of mudslinging. With chapter titles like "A Dysfunctional Family," you know exactly what to expect--but Stewart is such a big, fat target that the book is entertaining anyway. Obviously, the architect of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is no sweetheart. (Control issues? You don't say). But regardless of the muck, you'll come away with a mixture of respect for Stewart's talent and prodigious drive ("I can will an orgasm whenever I want"), and profound gratitude that she's not your daughter, wife, mother, friend, or business associate. Just Desserts affords brief glimpses of the private Martha. She was called "Marty" in high school. She modeled her way through Barnard. She may have engaged in wife-swapping. But anyone surprised that Martha the domestic goddess is a work of fiction misses the point entirely.

From Library Journal

A veteran tabloid biographer (The Other Mrs. Kennedy, St. Martin's, 1994) here purports to reveal the less savory side of the oh-so-genteel Martha Stewart. Don't look for reviews; the book is embargoed until the sale date.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 399 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (July 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688146899
• ISBN-13: 978-0688146894
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( S ) > Stewart, Martha

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be six stars!, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Martha Stewart: Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography (Hardcover)

Great bio--these unauthorized ones are best!

I love Martha'skitschy campy shows, her magazines, her bedding and towels and paintand other household goods (I can't wait for the next white sale at Kmart) and although I never cook I love to leaf through her cookbooks and even have on occaision thought about using some of her tips. I think she is funny in a wry dry sort of way. And she is stylish, and she does present the dream of perfection--perfect homes, weddings, parties, holidays--the all too perfect "All American" dream of a "white picket fence, rose gardens and green lawns" life.

Sigh....so it is...just a dream. (Say it ain't so!)And she caters to us--not only foodstuffs and linens, but a dream that if we buy said book/blanket/bridal guide etc. that we too can have a little taste of style, that we too can share in this perfect dream. That is the allure of Martha. I for one don't care about how bitchy the woman is--and it could very well be that she is a diva and a doyenne. Or it could just be that the author wants to make a quick buck, that his reliable sources are harboring sour grapes, that the Martha of then is not the Martha of now.

Taken as a good trashy read this book is tops! (For those interested, the unauthorized bios of Madonna, Frank Sinatra, Danielle Steel, Courtney Love and Anais Nin are pretty good too--can't recall who wrote these but they are engrossingly good nonetheless)

If Martha were a man this would be gravy. She would be held up and admired like some super business hero. She is depicted as a ballbusting backstabbing bitch because she is a woman--if she were a man she would be merely Machiavellian. She would receive accolades for her behavior. People would be writing 'how-to' books about her--"How to be a Billionaire" would be a pretty good title, no? (Although I fear "Lonely Lady" would be more apt.)

Few women are able to go as far as she did and be as successful as she is--and guaranteed the ones who have have stepped on their share of toes along the way. Big Business is not too kind to 'cake baking June Cleaver' types--Martha needed savvy as well as savoire faire and she used it to its fullest potential. Quit picking on her--she's not a perfect person--she only plays one on TV. Cut her some slack!

(Something to Remember: Not every female media icon, entreprenuer, millionairess can be as goody goody as Oprah!)

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spicy Dish served Cold, December 22, 1998

By 

A.A.W. (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martha Stewart: Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography (Hardcover)

While reading this biography, I had to remind myself of the fact that over _400_ individuals were interviewed for this book. After all, how can one woman be so mean, greedy, insensitive, manipulative, and dishonest? Unlike many obessesive Martha fans, I never put much stock into her public persona. Her tips were "cute", but not often applicable to everyday life -- I could take them or leave them. However, after watching a few of her shows and noticing the way in which she appropriated "expert" status on every topic (from choosing proper firewood to making latkes for Chanukah to planning a garden -- Martha ALWAYS knew better than her own guests. If you don't believe me, check her out correcting Julia Child on Julia's OWN PBS baking show!) I knew there was something more. Those who criticize this book for muckraking are overlooking the most important and telling aspect of "Just Desserts" -- the people identified and quoted. Anyone who knows a whit about journalism knows that attributed quotes (especially regarding an individual) are terribly difficult to come by. The fact that nearly every major associate of Martha's (past and present) came forward "on the record" is astounding and cannot be overlooked or palmed-off as "jealousy" or "mean-spiritedness". Ms. Stewart is one cookie you don't mess with, turn your back on, or do business with. As for those who speak of "good taste" and who describe M.S. critics as "uncouth" or "provincial", I say that you and Martha are practicising a style of class-ism that should make most of us shudder and only serves to reinforce Mr. Oppenheimer's points about Martha and her wannabees. Not liking Martha and/or her "Martha's Way"-style of dictatorship does not make us ignorant -- mearly individuals who can think and decide for themselves and not subscribe to the whims of a self-created Domestic Doyenne. If you want a detailed, footnoted peek inside Ms. Stewart's life and personality, this is the book.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Backhanded Compliment Ever!, November 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Martha Stewart: Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography (Hardcover)

Driven, talented, educated, successful--if only she had been a man. But Martha's not, that makes her a ballbuster. I enjoyed this book because it was so easy to read between the lines. Martha Stewart worked hard, made the real American Dream come true-to be wealthy, powerful, and famous. It's okay for Lee Iacoca or Donald Trump to do this--but not an Irish Catholic girl child of the fifties. Maybe it's not just that she's a woman, but that she's made her way to fame and fortune through homemaking--traditionally the most underesteemed and underpaid work. In other words, women's work. I admire her immensly, even more so after reading this book.