Killing the Legends: The Lethal Danger of Celebrity

I like the wealth of accurate, historical information in a fairly condensed fashion. While many folks know of some of the details of the lives of these LEGENDS, there are facts sprinkled about that are unknown. As an example, I am a huge Beatles fan and did not realize the extent of Lennon’s Heroin Addiction. Yes, I wish there had been more information about all three men, but within the confines of the length dedicated to each legend, much important information was shared. This book did not disappoint. A quick, informative read and well worth the readers time.

Unfortunately, in too many cases it's everybody for themselves. Three legends of a baby boomer's youth, the men we saw as part of our growing up, failed for one reason or another, to properly look out for themselves. I still fail to understand why Elvis got sucked in by such a shyster. In some ways, the evil surrounding John Lennon was his own doing. Still, Yoko Ono destroyed his marriage, his career with The Beatles, and made a pure ass out of him. With Ali, there was just too much money to be made in boxing. Surrounding himself with too many greedy people, add in too many greedy wives, and an over generous attitude, and a violent sport like boxing will damage you beyond compare. O'Reilly and Dugard really dug to find the details for this book, and to define three people in such a short space meant the fat had to be cut away from the facts. Great read.

Well, I’ve read all the Killing Books and this one doesn’t disappoint. I’m both a big Beatles and Elvis fan, have all the music / books and Ali was my guy growing up in the 60’s-70’s. I never missed a fight. So I started with a fair amount of background knowledge on all 3. That said, Mr. O’and Martin D presented nuggets on all of them that were new news to me and I always appreciate learning more about my heroes. For the causal fan of any of these icons, the book serves as a well researched starting point to understand the stories behind the legend. I read it the day it arrived, in one sitting. I’m still personally more a fan of the American history leaning Killing titles, and would love to see more in that vain. Teddy Roosevelt comes to mind as a possible target ( no Killing pun intended). Keep it up Bill, your books always are a warm blanket or a soft breeze to all of us trying to survive in the wilderness of modern life.

First the good: One of the most captivating books this boomer has read in a long time. You cannot put this book down. Riveting information on the 'behind the scenes' life of the celebrities that defined an era. Now the bad: sloppy errors that should have been caught in the proofing/editing phase prior to publication. I deducted a star due to this sloppiness. The book lists Elvis' second movie as 'Jailhouse Rock'. No, it was 'Loving You'. It lists his last Album as the 'Aloha From Hawaii' live album. No, it was 'Moody Blue' which was released a month before his death. In terms of John Lennon, the book states that the rooftop live session in January of '69 was to record songs for 'Abbey Road'. It was for the 'Let It Be' album released after the Beatles split. And only one track was used; McCartney's 'Get Back'. They also claim this was Lennon's last live performance until he appeared on stage with Elton John at a Madison Square Garden concert on Thanksgiving 1973; yet in an earlier chapter, the book discusses the Plastic Ono Band's live performance in September 1969 in Toronto a week after Lennon announced he was leaving the Beatles. Yoko is also referred to as Yono at one point. As for Ali, they start his section with the 'Thrilla in Manila' and state that Ali won the title in an earlier fight with Joe Fraizer only to correct themselves in a subsequent chapter to correctly state that Ali defeated George Foreman in the 'Rumble in the Jungle'. These guys seriously need a new editor. These simple mistakes are enough to make you question the reliability of the rest of the book unless one is already well read on the book's subjects.