From Publishers Weekly
Like a musical Elements of Style, Hamill's slim meditation on Frank Sinatra is confident, smart and seamless. Since (and immediately before) Sinatra's death in May 1998, countless tributes have been made to the singer; Hamill (A Drinking Life) seems to be writing to set the record straight, for he knew Sinatra and, before that, knew the singer's music. But Hamill doesn't fawn over Sinatra the way other, younger writers have recently done. Rather, he elegantly tells the Sinatra story, dwelling on the singer's best recordings, dismissing "the Rat Pack, the swagger, the arrogance, the growing fortune, the courtiers," because in the end, he writes, they are "of little relevance." What matters, according to Hamill, is the music, chiefly that of Sinatra's early mature years, when the singer released his celebrated albums on the Capitol label. Where a starry-eyed author might vaguely praise these albums for their pathos and vulnerability, Hamill points out that, before the singer's Capitol comeback years, Sinatra's fans were almost exclusively young women. The stubborn, post-Ava Gardner heartache of Sinatra's later records, however, with their lack of self-pity, gained Sinatra a chiefly male audience. Of this, perhaps the singer's greatest musical period, Hamill writes that Sinatra "perfected the role of the Tender Tough Guy.... Before him, that archetype did not exist in American popular culture." That may be true, but Hamill sets his book apart from the many others about Old Blue Eyes by tempering intelligent superlatives with the retelling of touching, revelatory moments the two men shared. Hamill's is a definitive introduction to Sinatra's work. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The barrage of recent Frank Sinatra books has resulted in his being the most written-about celebrity in the world after Monroe and Presley. Hamill's slim essay is distinguished from other recent works by its objective focus on the components of the late singer's enduring musical legacy. Veteran writer Hamill (e.g., A Drinking Life, LJ 1/94) is comfortable in the New York City milieu of late nights, saloons, and prizefighters, and he has captured the essence of Sinatra, who created something that was not there before he arrived: an urban American voice. The book's strength is its insight into and evocation of the Italian American immigrant experience that had such a strong influence on Sinatra. Minor weaknesses are an oversimplified examination of prejudice and an underdeveloped 1974 vignette about Ava Gardner that fails to make its point. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?Bruce Henson, Georgia Inst. of Technology, AtlantaCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Terry Teachout
...the only thing wrong with this brief but penetrating essay is that it is far too short.


The Boston Globe, Mark Feeney
The book is a valedictory tribute--an extended essay, really--in the form of a biographical sketch that follows its subject up through the mid-'50s (struggling Sinatra interests Hamill far more than imperial Sinatra). Along the way, Hamill also finds room for such germane, if unexpected, material as a minitreatise on US immigration in the early years of this century; a lambasting of Prohibition; and a potted biography of Sinatra's favorite arranger, Nelson Riddle.


From Booklist
A combination biography and cultural analysis by the author of A Drinking Life (1993). In Hamill's view, Frank Sinatra was important for two reasons. First, Sinatra represented the fulfillment of the American Dream. A first-generation Italian, young Sinatra experienced anti-immigrant biases firsthand. Yet for all its flaws, America still offered substantial opportunity, and by the time he was 15, Sinatra dreamed of singing professionally. Of course, he accomplished this and more, but throughout, Hamill asserts, Sinatra the superstar never forgot his humble roots. Second, Sinatra gave us a new sound, the "urban American voice." When Sinatra broke onto the scene in the early 1940s, the avuncular and soothing Bing Crosby was the singer. But Sinatra's songs were very different, edgier, more passionate, with a fair amount of swagger, yet always returning to what Hamill argues was Sinatra's central theme, loneliness. A heartfelt and intelligent tribute to Ol' Blue Eyes. Brian McCombie


Book Description
As products of the same urban landscape, Pete Hamill and Frank Sinatra have both been credited with giving the American city a voice. In this widely acclaimed and bestselling appreciation--now available in paperback for the first time--Hamill draws on his intimate experience of the man and the music to evoke the essence of Sinatra, illuminating the singer's art and his legend from the point of view of a confidant and a fan.


About the Author
Pete Hamill is a novelist, journalist, editor, and screenwriter. His books include the forthcoming Forever (Little, Brown, January 2003), the bestselling novel Snow in August, and the bestselling memoir A Drinking Life. He writes a daily column for the New York Daily News and lives in New York City.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Pete Hamill knew Frank Sinatra well—so well, in fact, that he almost coauthored the singer's autobiography. In preparing for that never-to-be-written volume, Hamill and Sinatra spent many hours discussing the singer's long, successful career, and it is on those conversations that Hamill based the book-length essay that is Why Sinatra Matters.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this unique tribute, veteran journalist and award winning author Pete Hamill remembers and pays tribute to the legacy of Frank Sinatra. Why Sinatra Matters draws on Hamill's years-long friendship with Sinatra; this is not an impersonal magazine issue full of photos or a quickie bio, but a personal, thoughtful testimony which is sure to pique interest.

SYNOPSIS

We asked Edward Hutchinson, a New York-based freelance writer and devoted Frank Sinatra fan (Hutchinson penned our tribute to Sinatra in December of 1997, on the occasion of the singer's 82nd birthday), to meet with Pete Hamill, author of the appreciation of the Chairman of the Board Why Sinatra Matters. It was a meeting of like minds, and a fertile one at that.

FROM THE CRITICS

Terry Teachout - New York Times Book Review

A graceful reminiscence of Sinatra.

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

If [Hamill] fails to make you feel the same amount of affection for Sinatra [as he does], he certainly conveys his hero's rough charm. . . .[And] his book does admirably convey why Sinatra's music has been so much a part of the lives of so many generations. . . .his music keeps floating, sustained by memory. — The New York Times

Megan Harlan - Entertainment Weekly

. . .[T]he most intimate and thoughtful eulogy for 'the Voice' yet. . . .leave[s] you wanting . . .to listen again to Sinatra's best songs.

Publishers Weekly

Like a musical Elements of Style, Hamill's slim meditation on Frank Sinatra is confident, smart and seamless. Since (and immediately before) Sinatra's death in May 1998, countless tributes have been made to the singer; Hamill (A Drinking Life) seems to be writing to set the record straight, for he knew Sinatra and, before that, knew the singer's music. But Hamill doesn't fawn over Sinatra the way other, younger writers have recently done. Rather, he elegantly tells the Sinatra story, dwelling on the singer's best recordings, dismissing "the Rat Pack, the swagger, the arrogance, the growing fortune, the courtiers," because in the end, he writes, they are "of little relevance." What matters, according to Hamill, is the music, chiefly that of Sinatra's early mature years, when the singer released his celebrated albums on the Capitol label. Where a starry-eyed author might vaguely praise these albums for their pathos and vulnerability, Hamill points out that, before the singer's Capitol comeback years, Sinatra's fans were almost exclusively young women. The stubborn, post-Ava Gardner heartache of Sinatra's later records, however, with their lack of self-pity, gained Sinatra a chiefly male audience. Of this, perhaps the singer's greatest musical period, Hamill writes that Sinatra "perfected the role of the Tender Tough Guy.... Before him, that archetype did not exist in American popular culture." That may be true, but Hamill sets his book apart from the many others about Old Blue Eyes by tempering intelligent superlatives with the retelling of touching, revelatory moments the two men shared. Hamill's is a definitive introduction to Sinatra's work. (Oct.)

Library Journal