Author Description

<b>“Flat out, one of the best Hollywood memoirs ever written . . . an absolute treasure.” —<i>Booklist </i>(starred review)</b><br> <br><i>In my ninety-plus years I’ve lived a multitude of lives. In the course of all these lives, I had a front-row seat at the birth of television; wrote, produced, created, or developed more than a hundred shows; had nine on the air at the same time; founded the 300,000-member liberal advocacy group People For the American Way; was labeled the “no. 1 enemy of the American family” by Jerry Falwell; made it onto Richard Nixon’s “Enemies List”; was presented with the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton; purchased an original copy of the Declaration of Independence and toured it for ten years in all fifty states; blew a fortune in a series of bad investments in failing businesses; and reached a point where I was informed we might even have to sell our home. Having heard that we’d fallen into such dire straits, my son-in-law phoned me and asked how I was feeling. My answer was, “Terrible, of course,” but then I added, “But I must be crazy, because despite all that’s happened, I keep hearing this inner voice saying, ‘Even </i>this<i> I get to experience.’”</i><br><br>Norman Lear’s work is legendary. The renowned creator of such iconic television programs as <i>All in the Family</i>;<i> Maude</i>;<i> Good Times</i>;<i> The Jeffersons</i>; and <i>Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman</i>, Lear remade our television culture from the ground up. At their peak, his programs were viewed by 120 million people a week, with stories that dealt with the most serious issues of the day—racism, poverty, abortion—yet still left audiences howling with laughter. In <i>Even </i>This<i> I Get to Experience</i>, Lear opens up with all the candor, humor, and wisdom to be expected from one of America’s greatest living storytellers.<br><br>But TV and politics are only a fraction of the tale. Lear’s early years were grounded in the harshness of the Great Depression an