The Sammy Davis, Jr. Reader

Editor Gerald Early offers a lengthy foreward which, at first, I thought a bit self-indulgent until I began to grasp the depth of affection he feels for his subject. Don't skip this foreward; it gets better in the later sections.

The writings in the collection are taken from various autobiographies and other texts about the era, and are insightfully organized. This book is not thoughtlessly thrown together; this is clearly a labor of love. In the first 50 pages alone I had enough of my personal Sammy myths dispelled to recommend the book. I can't help but think how I would have felt had I been the editor. The book certainly doesn't try to slam Sammy, but it does offer the bad along with the good, and it can't have been a painless decision to include some of this material. The excerpt from his daughter's book is particularly revealing, and the bit from Linda Lovelace's autobiography is nothing short of disturbing.

Sammy's own tellings of his life story are far from entirely flattering, but this excellent book brings the legend down from even that level, down to where we all live. Sammy was not a perfect man. He was a masterful entertainer. He was a lousy father. He had a heart of gold. He was into some horrifyingly self-destructive behavior. If you love Sammy the artist as much as I do, you owe it to yourself (after reading the autobiography, I think) to read this volume. It's a real eye-opener. And despite the ugly reality it sometimes offers, it hasn't diminished my love and respect for Sammy one bit. Quite the opposite.