New York Times "Editors Choice," Los Angeles Times "Must Read Book for Summer," and a New Yorker "Best Book of the Year So Far"

"This is the biography of Clint Eastwood we've been waiting for." ? Sir Christopher Frayling, author of Sergio Leone

From the acclaimed film critic and New York Times bestselling biographer of Paul Newman, a revelatory portrait of Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, the most prolific and versatile actor-director in movie history and an imposing icon of American culture for six decades.

C-L-I-N-T. That single short, sharp syllable has stood as an emblem of American manhood and morality and sheer bloody-minded will, on-screen and off-screen, for more than sixty years. Whether he's facing down bad guys on a Western street (Old West or new, no matter), staring through the lens of a camera, or accepting one of his movies' thirteen Oscars (including two for Best Picture), he is as blunt, curt, and solid as his name, a star of the old-school stripe and one of the most accomplished directors of his time, a man of rock and iron and brute force: Clint.

To read this comprehensive Clint Eastwood biography is to understand nearly a century of American culture. No Hollywood figure in modern movie history has so completely and complexly stood inside the changing climates of post-World War II America. At age ninety-five, he has lived a tumultuous century and embodied much of his time and many of its contradictions.

We picture Clint squinting through cigarillo smoke in A Fistful of Dollars or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; imposing rough justice at the point of a .44 Magnum in Dirty Harry; sowing vengeance in The Outlaw Josey Wales or Pale Rider or Unforgiven; grudgingly training a woman boxer in Million Dollar Baby; and standing up for his neighbors despite his racism in Gran Torino. Or we feel him present, powerfully, behind the camera, creating complex tales of violence, morality, and humanity, such as Mystic River, Letters from Iwo Jima, and American Sniper. But his roles and his films, the work of a master actor-director, are two-dimensional in comparison to his whole life.

As Shawn Levy reveals in this masterful film critic biography-the most complete portrait yet of Eastwood-the reality is richer, knottier, and more absorbing. Clint: The Man and the Movies is a saga of cunning, determination, and conquest, a story about a man ascending to the Hollywood pantheon while keeping one foot firmly planted outside its door.

This landmark biography goes beyond the myths to explore the man behind the legend:

• An Actor's Evolution: From his early TV roles to becoming the face of the modern Western and a master of minimalist action, track the six-decade career of a true screen icon.
• The Director's Chair: Discover his acclaimed work behind the camera, from the moral complexities of Mystic River and Unforgiven to the raw power of American Sniper.
• A Cultural Icon: Analyze how Eastwood became a complex symbol of American manhood, morality, and politics through changing and tumultuous times.
• The Man Behind the Myth: Shawn Levy's exhaustive research and critical insight separate the on-screen persona from the richer, knottier, and more absorbing reality.