Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
42 used & new from $3.85
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
James Dean: The Mutant King: A Biography
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.
 
  

James Dean: The Mutant King: A Biography (Paperback)

by David Dalton (Author) "James Byron Dean was born on February 8, 1931 in a small town in Indiana..." (more)
Key Phrases: chickie run, mutant king, James Dean, New York, Jimmy Dean (more...)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
List Price: $18.95
Price: $14.21 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $4.74 (25%)
  Special Offers Available
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 5 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Monday, July 20? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
20 new from $10.55 21 used from $3.85 1 collectible from $37.50
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (1ST) 51 used & new from $0.67
Paperback 103 used & new from $0.01
Unknown Binding 10 used & new from $2.25

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Purchase this entertainment book and get 12 issues to either Rolling Stone, Men's Journal or Us Weekly for $2.95 each. That's less than $0.25 an issue. Here's how (restrictions apply)
  • Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.

Frequently Bought Together

James Dean: The Mutant King: A Biography + Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times and Legend of James Dean + James Dean: Fifty Years Ago
Price For All Three: $45.98

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Surviving James Dean

Surviving James Dean

by William Bast
3.9 out of 5 stars (25) 
James Dean: Fifty Years Ago

James Dean: Fifty Years Ago

by Dennis Stock
4.7 out of 5 stars (7)  $19.77
The Complete James Dean Collection (East of Eden / Giant / Rebel Without a Cause Special Edition)

The Complete James Dean Collection (East of Eden / Giant / Rebel Without a Cause Special Edition)

DVD ~ James Dean
4.8 out of 5 stars (31)  $49.99
James Dean

James Dean

DVD ~ James Franco
4.4 out of 5 stars (35) 
The Death of James Dean

The Death of James Dean

by Warren N. Beath
4.9 out of 5 stars (10)  $12.60
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review
"One of the best books ever written about the iconic, laconic actor" -- Mark Burger, Winston-Salem Journal

"Pure, poetic gold. . . . A spellbinding portrait." -- Houston Post

"Vividly intimate, engrossing." -- Publishers Weekly

Product Description
This is the book that restarted the James Dean cult by celebrating him as the cool, defiant visionary of pop culture who made adolescence seem heroic instead of awkward and who defined the style of rock 'n' roll's politics of delinquency. The only book to fully show how deliberately and carefully Dean crafted his own image and performances, and the product of still unequalled research, vivid writing, intimate photographs, and profound meditation, James Dean: The Mutant King has become almost as legendary as its subject.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Chicago Review Press (September 1, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 155652398X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1556523984
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #280,669 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
James Byron Dean was born on February 8, 1931 in a small town in Indiana. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
chickie run, mutant king
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
James Dean, New York, Jimmy Dean, Warner Brothers, Rebel Without, Jett Rink, Jim Stark, Bill Bast, Bill Gunn, Marlon Brando, Stewart Stern, Barbara Glenn, Nick Ray, The Immoralist, Los Angeles, Actors Studio, Santa Monica, Dennis Hopper, Jane Deacy, George Stevens, Leonard Rosenman, Jim Backus, Rock Hudson, The Unlighted Road, Martin Landau
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 95 books:
See all 95 books this book cites
 
24 books cite this book:
See all 24 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
Live Fast, Die Young by Lawrence Frascella
Natasha by Suzanne Finstad
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

James Dean: The Mutant King: A Biography
71% buy the item featured on this page:
James Dean: The Mutant King: A Biography 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
$14.21
Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times and Legend of James Dean
10% buy
Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times and Legend of James Dean 2.7 out of 5 stars (36)
$12.00
The Death of James Dean
7% buy
The Death of James Dean 4.9 out of 5 stars (10)
$12.60
James Dean: Little Boy Lost
7% buy
James Dean: Little Boy Lost 4.6 out of 5 stars (13)
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.
(3)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
See all 7 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search
No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars For the Most Part, a Good Biography, June 14, 2000
By Susan Nunes (Reno, NV United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: James Dean: The Mutant King (Paperback)
Dalton's biography of James Dean is a very good book about the cinemic legend. He seems to have interviewed many people who were close to Dean, and he focuses as much on the real man as on the icon. Dalton also writes quite well.

The only problem I have with this book is I wonder how carefully it was fact-checked. There was at least one blatant gaffe in the book, which alleged that James Dean was a big fan of Elvis Presley. Now every Elvis fan knows Presley was a huge fan of James Dean, even to the point where he is said to have memorized all of Dean's lines in the classic "Rebel Without a Cause." The question I have is, was Dean really a fan of Elvis?

On page 195 of the paperback 1983 edition, a friend of Dean's is quoted as saying how much James Dean loved the Elvis hit "Hound Dog," and how Dean loved to wake people up in the middle of the night by calling them on the phone and playing the record when they said "Hello." It's a compelling tale.

Unfortunately, this story cannot be true. By the end of 1955, Elvis had signed on to RCA and had obtained Col. Tom Parker as manager. Elvis was still a regional performer in 1955, and his Sun recordings (today big collectors' items) sold only modestly in the South. Elvis did make appearances on "The Louisiana Hayride," and he made some other appearances on local and regional television programs, but it wasn't until January 1956, when he made his first national television appearance on the Dorsey Brothers program "Stage Show," that he became a sensation. Furthermore, Elvis did NOT record "Hound Dog" until July of 1956, almost a year after Dean's death. Now it is possible Dean might have heard "The Louisiana Hayride" or bought any of Elvis' five Sun singles, but more likely he, like most of America in 1955, had never heard of Elvis. This blatant error, while only taking up one paragraph in the book, calls into question how accurate the rest of the book is. Dalton doesn't call this tall tale into question, so the gullible reader is led to believe Dean was a big fan of Elvis. Since I haven't seen a newer edition of this book, it's possible the error was corrected, but I doubt it.

Because people's memories can fade or they can simply exaggerate, most biographies have to be read with caution. Even though I enjoyed the book and refer to it often, it is certainly no exception.

Comment Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Dean Bio Starter, July 24, 2007
For the reviewer who gave a lengthy discussion on Elvis...enough already! So there may be a few factual errors...show me a bio that doesn't have a few and I'd be very surprised. This bio nails James Dean perfectly, and paints a picture that makes it easy to understand why he remains an icon over 50 years after his death. Well written it paints an indepth portrait of the person who represents so many different things to different people. Ignore the negative reviews on here.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Well done, Mr. Dalton, March 24, 2001
This review is from: James Dean: The Mutant King (Paperback)
In the slew of Dean Biographies I've read, this came to me third. And I was in general, very privelaged to read it. It is concise, thorough, factual, and eloquent. Favorite parts in all Dean bios are his chilhood years, his 3 years before success, and experiences while making his 3 films- and this book does wonderful justice to those times. You'll learn about his sex, loves, and hot&cold personality. There were a few(only a few) moments where some details lagged and dragged slightly. Those thoughts, however, disapeared instantly with the next sentence I would come upon in the book. It's in my top three Dean bios list-probably #3. Please let yourself discover Jimmy. Buy this and several other of his bios and take them on a vacation(or some time and place where you can commit yourself to them)and devoure them."James Dean-Boulevard of Broken Dreams", and "Live Fast Die Young", are two other necessaries. This is a must read. Happy Readings!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
Ad
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Good!!!
the story is sooo sad but very interseding. the writing is kinda wired but it has a lot of interseding fakes about the town Dean lived in, and about Dean. its a good book.
Published 1 month ago by Vincent Arroyo

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unexpectd Pleasure
James Dean is in own words is a walking contradiction. This book offers rich insights into his condition. Read more
Published on April 26, 1998 by Mark Bowers at hollyfang@...

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Don't Slip and Slide

HeatTrak Heated Walkway

Keep your walkways safe and clear of snow and ice using the HeatTrak heated walkway.

›Shop all HeatTrak heated walkways

  

Best Books of 2008

Best of 2008
Find our top 100 editors' picks as well as customers' favorites in dozens of categories in our Best Books of 2008 Store.
  

Summer Reading for Kids & Teens

Summer Reading for Kids and Teens
Discover everything from beach reads and board books to teen romance and action-adventure series in Summer Reading for Kids & Teens. And, check off the kids' required reading lists in our Summer School Reading Store.
 

Best Books

Best of the Month
See our editors' picks and more of the best new books on our Best of the Month page.
  
Ad

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Where's My Stuff?

Shipping & Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue shopping: Top Sellers
Free
Free by Chris Anderson
3.5 out of 5 stars (15)$0.00
 Paranoia
Paranoia by Joseph Finder
4.1 out of 5 stars (202)$0.00
 My Soul to Lose
My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent
3.6 out of 5 stars (5)$0.00
 Glenn Beck's Common Sense
Glenn Beck's Common Sense by Glenn Beck
3.8 out of 5 stars (287)$6.59

amazon.com Amazon.com Home  |   Directory of All Stores
International Sites:  Canada  |  United Kingdom  |  Germany  |  Japan  |  France  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Build an eCommerce Site  |  Advertise With Us  |  Developer Services  |  Self-Publish with Us
Help  |  View Cart  |  Your Account  |  1-Click Settings  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Careers at Amazon  |  Investor Relations  |  Press Releases  |  Corporate Responsibility
Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates