The Norton Book of Interviews

An entertaining and comprehensive collection of interviews with some of history's most prominent people.

From verbal combat to unreserved adoration, the art of the interview has always aroused strong feelings. Aggrieved film stars, disdainful monarchs, cantankerous novelists, and self-justifying politicians have all hurled abuse and invective at interviewers. Interviewers, for their part, have loftily maintained that their role is the pursuit of truth and the preservation of contemporary history.

This anthology ranges from what is considered to be the first interview—with Brigham Young, the leader of the Mormon Church—which appeared in 1859 in the New York Tribune, to the present day. Among those interviewed are Karl Marx, Otto von Bismarck, Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler, Gertrude Stein, Mahatma Gandhi, Alfred Hitchcock, Mao Tse-Tung, and William Burroughs.

Here we find the last interviews that Marilyn Monroe and Jimmy Hoffa gave; Greta Garbo says that she enjoys being alone; Al Capone pretends he's just a nice guy trying to make a buck; Mussolini reflects on history, loneliness, and destiny. The result of all this conversation is a fascinating volume that offers the reader not only an insight into the lives of the famous but also a perspective on the changing nature of being famous and what we, the public, expect to know about the great figures of our time.

Christopher Silvester is a frequent contributor to GQ and Vanity Fair. He lives in England.

1996 / hardcover / ISBN 0-393-03876-9 / 640 pages / HISTORY

• "Why do I refuse to be interviewed? Because it is immoral! It is a crime. . . . It is cowardly and vile. No respectable man would ask it, much less give it." —Rudyard Kipling
• "We were four guys. . . . I met Paul and said, 'You want to join me band?' Then George joined, and then Ringo joined. We were just a band that made it very, very big, that's all."—John Lennon