For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond (Hardcover)

by Ben Macintyre (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] marvelous tribute…He examines, among other things, the probable genesis of Bond's name (an ornithologist) and his spycraft (a number of exotic and intrepid agents, entertainingly described). He looks at the sources for Bond's taste in women (Fleming) and attitude toward them (Fleming) and at the effect of the Bond-of-the-movies on the Bond-of-the-books (significant).” —Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe

Product Description

A riveting look into the world of James Bond and his creator, published on the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth.
In For Your Eyes Only, Ben Macintyre reveals where the world of Ian Fleming ends and the world of James Bond begins. Macintyre looks at the actual people on whom the writer based his fictional creations—friends, colleagues, lovers, and, of course, the notorious villains. Exploring the tradition of spy fiction past and present, with specific attention to the Cold War, Macintyre explains how Bond was based on the realities—and fantasies—of Fleming’s life as a wartime spymaster and peacetime bon vivant.
Stylishly illustrated, For Your Eyes Only features a collector’s dream of gadgets, costumes, props, and storyboards from the films—Daniel Craig’s bloodstained shirt from Casino Royale, the Aston Martin DB5, complete with weaponry—as well as memorabilia from Fleming’s personal archive: his smoking jacket, the manuscript for Casino Royale, his golden typewriter, his guns, and much more.

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Product Details Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (April 29, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 1596915447 ISBN-13: 978-1596915442 Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 3 x 0.9 inches Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #298,735 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars For the uninitiated into Ian Fleming's world...., June 10, 2008 By  Kenneth M. Pizzi (San Mateo, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)       As one who studied Fleming's work extensively as a graduate student and later publishing a thesis on the writer's impact on pop culture of the period, I must admit I was a bit skeptical about yet another bland and redundant Bond "coffee table" book for the masses. Happily, this is not the case with "For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond" by Ben Macintyre, written on the centenary of the author's birth. Highly readable and enjoyable and chock full with full-color photos of props used throughout all 21 Bond films, this book is a comprehensive survey of not just of Bond's impact on fiction and the cinema, but a real in-depth analysis of the man who breathed live into one of popular culture's most endurable icons. Much is written about Fleming's childhood, adolescence, education at Eton, relationships with family (brother Peter, noted travel writer), his military career, his closest friends (Ivar Bryce and Noel Coward), his love-hate relationships with wife Ann, and the author's affairs with numerous beautiful women which oddly resemble Fleming's fictional alter-ego. For those who wish to learn more about Bond and the writer who created him, this tome is a great springboard into the Bond phenomenon which has spanned over forty years. 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Good book about the author, September 15, 2008 By  X "---" (Bay Area, CA, USA) - See all my reviews I bought this book at the Imperial War Museum at their exhibit of Fleming and Bond. It is a good reflection of the information there, for anyone who couldn't see the exhibit, and even for those who could.		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596915447
• ISBN-13: 978-1596915442
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #298,735 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For the uninitiated into Ian Fleming's world...., June 10, 2008

By	Kenneth M. Pizzi (San Mateo, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As one who studied Fleming's work extensively as a graduate student and later publishing a thesis on the writer's impact on pop culture of the period, I must admit I was a bit skeptical about yet another bland and redundant Bond "coffee table" book for the masses. Happily, this is not the case with "For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond" by Ben Macintyre, written on the centenary of the author's birth. Highly readable and enjoyable and chock full with full-color photos of props used throughout all 21 Bond films, this book is a comprehensive survey of not just of Bond's impact on fiction and the cinema, but a real in-depth analysis of the man who breathed live into one of popular culture's most endurable icons.

Much is written about Fleming's childhood, adolescence, education at Eton, relationships with family (brother Peter, noted travel writer), his military career, his closest friends (Ivar Bryce and Noel Coward), his love-hate relationships with wife Ann, and the author's affairs with numerous beautiful women which oddly resemble Fleming's fictional alter-ego. For those who wish to learn more about Bond and the writer who created him, this tome is a great springboard into the Bond phenomenon which has spanned over forty years.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book about the author, September 15, 2008

By	X "---" (Bay Area, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

I bought this book at the Imperial War Museum at their exhibit of Fleming and Bond. It is a good reflection of the information there, for anyone who couldn't see the exhibit, and even for those who could.