Nevertheless: A Memoir

New
Paperback
2017
$29.12

A thorough and sophisticated effort to answer an interesting question: How did an indifferently raised, self-flagellating kid from a just-making-ends-meet, desultorily functioning Long Island family, in Massapequa, turn into Alec Baldwin, gifted actor, familiar public figure, impressively thoughtful person, notorious pugilist? . . . Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving . . . . Baldwin writes with great knowledge about old films, the art of acting, what he has learned from other actors, and about the differences among television, film and theater. . . . He's a highly literate and fluent writer. --New York Times
One of the most accomplished and outspoken actors today chronicles the highs and lows of his life in this beautifully written, candid memoir.
Over the past three decades, Alec Baldwin has established himself as one of Hollywood's most gifted, hilarious, and controversial leading men. From his work in popular movies, including Beetlejuice, Working Girl, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cooler, and Martin Scorsese's The Departed to his role as Jack Donaghy on Tina Fey's irreverent series 30 Rock--for which he won two Emmys, three Golden Globes, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards--and as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, he's both a household name and a deeply respected actor.
In Nevertheless, Baldwin transcends his public persona, making public facets of his life he has long kept private. In this honest, affecting memoir, he introduces us to the Long Island child who felt burdened by his family's financial strains and his parents' unhappy marriage; the Washington, DC, college student gearing up for a career in politics; the self-named Love Taxi who helped friends solve their romantic problems while neglecting his own; the young soap actor learning from giants of the theatre; the addict drawn to drugs and alcohol who struggles with sobriety; the husband and father who acknowledges his failings and battles to overcome them; and the consummate professional for whom the work is everything. Throughout Nevertheless, one constant emerges: the fearlessness that defines and drives Baldwin's life.
Told with his signature candor, astute observational savvy, and devastating wit, Nevertheless reveals an Alec Baldwin we have never fully seen before.

Synopsis

A thorough and sophisticated effort to answer an interesting question: How did an indifferently raised, self-flagellating kid from a just-making-ends-meet, desultorily functioning Long Island family, in Massapequa, turn into Alec Baldwin, gifted actor, familiar public figure, impressively thoughtful person, notorious pugilist? . . . Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving . . . . Baldwin writes with great knowledge about old films, the art of acting, what he has learned from other actors, and about the differences among television, film and theater. . . . He's a highly literate and fluent writer. --New York Times

One of the most accomplished and outspoken actors today chronicles the highs and lows of his life in this beautifully written, candid memoir.

Over the past three decades, Alec Baldwin has established himself as one of Hollywood's most gifted, hilarious, and controversial leading men. From his work in popular movies, including Beetlejuice, Working Girl, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cooler, and Martin Scorsese's The Departed to his role as Jack Donaghy on Tina Fey's irreverent series 30 Rock--for which he won two Emmys, three Golden Globes, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards--and as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, he's both a household name and a deeply respected actor.

In Nevertheless, Baldwin transcends his public persona, making public facets of his life he has long kept private. In this honest, affecting memoir, he introduces us to the Long Island child who felt burdened by his family's financial strains and his parents' unhappy marriage; the Washington, DC, college student gearing up for a career in politics; the self-named Love Taxi who helped friends solve their romantic problems while neglecting his own; the young soap actor learning from giants of the theatre; the addict drawn to drugs and alcohol who struggles with sobriety; the husband and father who acknowledges his failings and battles to overcome them; and the consummate professional for whom the work is everything. Throughout Nevertheless, one constant emerges: the fearlessness that defines and drives Baldwin's life.

Told with his signature candor, astute observational savvy, and devastating wit, Nevertheless reveals an Alec Baldwin we have never fully seen before.

$29.12

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 362
Edition: large type edition
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 01 Apr 2017
ISBN 10: 006249693X
ISBN 13: 9780062496935

Media Reviews

Vivid [and] deeply felt. --New York Times Book Review on A Promise to Ourselves
Told with intelligence and passion . . . This book is a must. --Huffington Post on A Promise to Ourselves
Vivid [and] deeply felt. --New York Times Book Review on A Promise to Ourselves
Told with intelligence and passion . . . This book is a must. --Huffington Post on A Promise to Ourselves
Some memoirs invite speed-reading until the juicier 'fame' chapters; but Baldwin, an eloquent writer who attempts to see his past through various vantage points, creates a vivid look at the boy who lost his distant father, whom he adored, too young; the burgeoning young TV star who abused cocaine and alcohol in his 20s, and the man who would gamble on movie fame over Broadway in the mid-90s--and come to regret it. Readers who come for showbiz dish will leave well-served . . . . remarkably raw, human and relatable. . . . Think you know Baldwin? Nevertheless, you still may want to pick up his book. --USA Today
Alexander Baldwin III is something of an American treasure . . . 'Nevertheless' is a blunt object wielded by a man of sharp intellect against his own soul. . . . It's refreshing to read a celebrity memoir that is not painted in pastels and glossed with self-actualization, that does not ride off into the sunset after rewarding projects and hurdled obstacles. . . . Evocative. --Washington Post
Swift, eloquent, witty. --Chicago Tribune
A rollicking, captivating peek into one of the world's most vainglorious industries, as well as a sincerely moving portrait of the artist. . . . As he chronicles this tumultuous coming of age, one marked by the straining of relationships and the spilling of family secrets, it's easy to get lost in the natural arc Baldwin builds, all broken dreams, earth-shifting drama, lucky breaks, eternal heartache, and addiction--early chapters are like Fitzgerald crossed with Cheever. --The Globe and Mail
[A] rich, fascinating, occasionally irascible chronicle. --Entertainment Weekly

Author Bio

Alec Baldwin is a multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor, producer, comedian, and philanthropist. He has also been nominated for an Oscar and a Tony Award and the author of the New York Times bestseller A Promise to Ourselves. He lives in New York City with his wife, Hilaria, and their three children.