Michael Posner is an award-winning writer, playwright, and journalist, and the author of nine previous books. These include the bestselling Mordecai Richler biography The Last Honest Man, and the Anne Murray biography All of Me, as well as the first two books in the Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories series, The Early Years, Vol. 1 and From This Broken Hill, Vol. 2. He was Washington Bureau Chief for Maclean’s magazine, and later served as its national, foreign, and assistant managing editor. He was also managing editor of the Financial Times of Canada for three years. He later spent sixteen years as a senior writer with The Globe and Mail (Toronto).
A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book of 2020
“Posner undertook dozens and dozens of interviews . . . creating a
unique oral history, as if they’re in a room together, sharing
memories and stories. . . . They’re linked together with a light
narrative voice that gives this biography a very intimate and
personal feel.”
— Toronto Star
“The life of Leonard Cohen—poet, novelist, artist, Zen monk, and
oh, yes, singer-songwriter—is too vast to be contained within one
book. Thankfully, Posner is giving us three. . . . Posner draws on
hundreds of interviews to explore Cohen’s private and public lives,
his complexities and contradictions, and, of course, his inarguable
charisma. Serve yourself some tea and oranges and settle in.”
— Zoomer
“Through these stories, a unique portrait of a young Leonard Cohen
is revealed, with insights into not only his extraordinary life but
also his timeless poetry and music.”
— ANNE MURRAY, Grammy Award–winning singer
“Posner masterfully weaves an abundance of interviews
with Cohen’s family, friends, and myriad lovers to create an
intricate tapestry and, ultimately, produces the most revealing
portrait of the legendary songwriter and wordsmith to date.”
— NICHOLAS JENNINGS, journalist and bestselling author of
Lightfoot
“Out of a welter of stories—from those who encountered Leonard
Cohen as associate, friend, or lover—Michael Posner has shaped
a fascinating multi-faceted portrait. Posner is indeed Cohen’s
Boswell, no doubt about it.”
— SEYMOUR MAYNE, poet, editor, and translator
“Offers an impressively thorough excavation of stories, including
some gems and, well, dirt. Together, [Posner’s] various positions
and perspectives create a cubist portrait of the Montreal-born icon
as a young man—and simultaneously an artist, intellectual,
prankster, bon vivant, workaholic, and dabbler in everything . . .
If Cohen’s your man and you’re his fan, you’ll want this book.”
— Maclean’s
“Posner masterfully weaves the story of the iconic musician’s life
through hundreds of interviews with the people who knew him best,
including family members, business partners, and lovers alike.”
— Chatelaine
“Leonard Cohen’s posthumous album in 2019 proved he still had
something profound to say, even in death. This book likewise
confirms that hundreds of others have their own tales to tell about
the master songwriter. The first of three volumes, it covers his
early life via a myriad of fascinating interviewees, from rabbis to
lovers. . . . Give it to anyone who misses Cohen.”
— Evening Standard
“As the anecdotes accumulate up until 1970, they build a compelling
picture of the worlds around [Cohen]—affluent Montreal suburbia,
Canadian Jewish summer camps, beatnik coffeehouses, jetset
bohemia—grounding his myth in solid context, enriching it with
casual detail. . . . As with any good oral history, the stories and
opinions slowly coalesce like pointillist dots, shifting into a
complex portrait of a man stepping into his myth, becoming
brilliant.”
— MOJO Magazine
“Sex, drugs, and poetry permeate this oral history of Leonard
Cohen. . . . This book offers a seductive blend of sometimes
contradictory insights.”
— Library Journal
“A detailed account of Cohen’s fascinating early life and career.
For serious Cohen fans, it’s a page-tuner.”
— Canadian Jewish Record
“[The] multiple perspectives capture man and myth in
tandem. For all of his gift for words, Cohen would have
struggled to tell his story better himself.”
— Uncut Magazine
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