Scott Eyman, Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille (Simon & Schuster, $35). Who knew that the private life of the man who made The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Show on Earth would turn out to be so scandalous? Yet DeMille’s three mistresses are only a small part of this solidly written, impeccably researched biography, which traces with satisfying skill the nineteenth-century roots of the director’s grandiose, often cartoonish style of epic filmmaking. It’s one of the best Hollywood biographies to come along in recent years (TT).
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
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