cover image James Dean: American Icon

James Dean: American Icon

David Dalton, Ron Cayen. St. Martin's Press, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-312-43962-0

This hagiographic work contains an enormous collection of hitherto unpublished photos showing Dean as a child, student and actor both on Broadway and in his three major Hollywood films (East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. The text is a melange of quotations from previous eulogists and of pretentious attempts to analyze Dean's attraction. PW remarked: ""Dean's insatiable fans will doubtless be sucked in by this ridiculous scrapbook's elegant layout.'' (April)