What made Norma Jean special was the quality she discovered when, bored with being a teenage bride with a husband in the Merchant Marine during World War II, she took her first and most enduring lover, the camera. At the age of 36, Marilyn Monroe died a Hollywood movie star and an American legend. Her rise to fame, however, had very little to do with her limited talents. Monroe infiltrated Hollywood, swarming with fake names and idealized careers, and pressed herself into its mold. Monroe's personal confessions, along with interviews with friends and contemporaries, reveal the truth behind this Hollywood icon.

What made Norma Jean special was the quality she discovered when, bored with being a teenage bride with a husband in the Merchant Marine during World War II, she took her first and most enduring lover, the camera. At the age of 36, Marilyn Monroe died a Hollywood movie star and an American legend. Her rise to fame, however, had very little to do with her limited talents. Monroe infiltrated Hollywood, swarming with fake names and idealized careers, and pressed herself into its mold. Monroe's personal confessions, along with interviews with friends and contemporaries, reveal the truth behind this Hollywood icon.

This explosive and historic must-have book will change the entire way readers view the life and death of Marilyn Monroe. Written by relatives of Marilyn Monroe, the authors painstakingly unravel the myths that have suffocated her legacy for over 50 years. These myths have been regurgitated in biography after biography, depicting Marilyn as an orphan girl and leaving her expansive lineage out of the equation. The facts support that Marilyn was surrounded with family, and many members were upstanding citizens who contributed greatly to their communities. However, Hollywood, Marilyn's New York "friends," and her therapists insulated Marilyn in order to profit off of the ultimate "Cinderella Story." That story was the myth of Marilyn Monroe, which was created to suffocate the truth behind Norma Jeane Mortenson and her family history. It was eventually this forged fairy-tale path and this cast of characters that squeezed funds out of Marilyn Monroe, as well as the final breaths out of the legendary star. The heirs of the opportunists who fleeced Marilyn of both her life and earnings still garner monies through her name today.

Perhaps no one's death has stirred more interest, controversy, and theories than Marilyn Monroe's August 4 of 1962. In Murder Orthodoxies, author Donald R. McGovern analyzes and examines the many theories that Monroe was murdered by a host of curious characters-from the middle Kennedy brothers to brutal gangsters to aliens. McGovern separates fact from fiction and theory from outlandish rumor. He addresses and debunks the usual allegations related to Monroe's death, the secrets recorded in her little red diary, her scheduled whistle-blowing press conference, the murder plots by organized crime and the brothers Kennedy, and the fatal injection of drugs, along with many others. In Murder Orthodoxies, McGovern restores logic and sanity to the investigation of Monroe's death. His thesis is based upon the premise that the engines of conspiracies are started and fueled by opinion, not by facts. His credible conclusions are based on logic, science, toxicology, and forensic evidence.

Marilyn Monroe's death has been shrouded in decades of deception, conspiracy, and lies. Donald H. Wolfe has written a startling portrait of the twentieth century's greatest film star that not only redefines her place in entertainment history but also reveals the secret conspiracy that surrounded her last days. In The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Wolfe confirms that the tragic actress was a homicide victim. He documents the mode of death, and names those involved and those who participated in the cover-up. Filled with documented revelations, eye-opening information about the dark secret in Marilyn's relationship with John and Robert Kennedy, and shocking details about the many bizarre events that took place at Marilyn's home the day she died, Donald H. Wolfe's remarkable book is the culmination of more than seven years of research. It will change forever the way we view the life—and death—of this great star.

On the 50th anniversary of the murder of Marilyn Monroe, one of the most incisive journalists in Hollywood has compiled this intriguing roundup of the conspiracies and dark secrets behind Hollywood's most notorious mystery.

As one of the founders of the field of women's history, Lois Banner reveals Marilyn Monroe in the way that only a top-notch historian and biographer could. Banner appreciates the complexities of Monroe's personal life in the context of her achievements as an actor, singer, dancer, comedian, model and courtesan.