Levy has written books about subjects as varied as Jerry Lewis and the Rat Pack, and he’s written as good a book as can be written about a man who didn’t cooperate and who told his friends and family not to cooperate. Beyond that, Newman’s life lacks
primary conflict.
Levy has some valuable insights about the actor’s place in his time: “Newman’s body of work nicely encapsulated the history of an in-between generation of American men who helped their fathers and uncles conquer the world in war and commerce, but who could only watch — likely with some jealousy — as their younger siblings and their own children acted out on the native rebellious impulses to overturn everything.”
Newman’s life and talent encompassed both solid fathers and rebellious sons — the former in his life, the ragged, dangerous latter in his art.
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