Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction:The Alternative

Act One

1. The Bull

2. Que Viva Mexico

3. The Wisdom of the Aztec

Act Two

4. El Niño de la Synagoga

5. Thanks, Ma

6. Yanqui Flamenco

7. Death in the Afternoon –with Drinks and Dinner to Follow

8. To the Ear

9.Hard Times

Act Three

10. The Big Parade

11. A Fine Romance

12. The Beard

13. The Master Horn

14. The Sword

15. Separate Trails

16. Hemingway’s Gay Blade

17. The Alternativa

18. The New Man

19. Servalavari

20. Recuerdos

21. Sol y Sombra

Acknowledgments and Afterthoughts

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Bart Paul is the author of the acclaimed High Country Noir series of novels: Under Tower Peak, called one of the ten best mysteries of 2013, Cheatgrass, and See That My Grave Is Kept Clean. He has also written documentaries on subjects as diverse as Masada and Nazi atrocities in Poland. Paul now lives in the ranching country of the Eastern Sierra’s California-Nevada border.  

Reviews

“Interjecting his opinions clearly while letting readers judge Franklin’s motives for themselves, Paul presents an absorbing biography of a twentieth century original, a confidante, lover, narcissist, and bravura performer whose capacity for suffering captured one of America’s greatest literary minds.”—Publishers Weekly
 

“Lovingly and engagingly written.”—Kate McLoughlin, Times Literary Supplement

“Finally! A fascinating, in-depth, warts-and-all biography of the legendary Hemingway hero, surely one of the great picaresque and colorful enigmas of modern times. Ears and tail to Bart Paul!”—Barnaby Conrad, author of Matador and The Death of Manolete

“A must-read for all those interested in Ernest Hemingway’s life and loves, even if bullfighting leaves them cold.”—Martin Rubin, Washington Times
 
 

“Since people began writing about the adventurous life of Sidney Franklin, be it Lillian Ross, Ernest Hemingway or others, [his story] seems to be shrouded in hyperbole, mystery, or just plain b.s. It’s taken Bart Paul to come along and tell the whole truth. I am very happy that after all these years, a real biography has finally been written. Congratulations, Bart Paul. Por fin, la verdad.”—Tony Brand, Aficionado práctico and scholar of bullfighting

“In this well-researched biography, Bart Paul deftly depicts the extraordinary life of the Jewish boy from Brooklyn who became the most famous American bullfighter. Franklin not only was Ernest Hemingway’s inside informant while he was writing Death in the Afternoon, the writer arranged for the bullfighter to accompany him to Spain while he covered the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. Mr. Paul captures Franklin’s wavering fortunes, alongside all the glitter, the gossip and the turmoil of the taurine scene in the early to mid twentieth century.”—Valerie Hemingway, author of Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways