Reviews

"Rich and definitive . . . a timeless [story told] with grace, wit, and empathy." --"Vanity Fair"
"A fluid, accomplished, deliciously readable biography of the individual who . . . 'helped deflower postwar America.'" --Barry Gewen, "The New York Times Book Review"
"The continuing fascination with Rudolph Valentino, and the sheer mystique that the name conjures up, is difficult to comprehend. It is almost incredible that at the start of the twenty-first century, an actor who died at the dawn of the last century should sustain the imaginations of such a large number of individuals. Emily Leider helps to dispel all of the myths generated through the years, documents his life and career with elegant accuracy, and does much to record and explain Valentino's complex sexuality. The image of Valentino that was held by his contemporaries and that has endured to this day was one of fable and fantasy. "Dark Lover" is the first biography to shed the welcome light of reality on to that image."
-Anthony Slide, author of "Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses"
"Emily Leider's exhaustively researched biography of Valentino places the man, the career, and the legend in broad contexts that extend from the birth of the Hollywood studio system to social issues of ethnicity and gender."
-Charles Affron, author of "Lillian Gish"
"Rudolph Valentino's short, sad life unfolds beautifully in this scrupulously detailed biography. Emily W. Leider links the actor's erotically complex image to themes of celebrity, virility and race that are as gripping today as they were in the age of silent film."
-Eileen Whitfield, author of"Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood"
""Dark Lover" is a compulsive read. Emily Leider's research into the life of Rudolph Valentino is astonishing and the authority with which she tells the story is admirable."
-Kevin Brownlow
"A beautifully researched biography that will doubtless stand as the definitive account of Valentino's legendary career."
-James Curtis, author of "James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters"
"Sensitively reasoned and meticulously researched, "Dark Lover" is the definitive Valentino biography."
-David Stenn, author of "Clara Bow"