Jamie Bernstein, Famous Father Girl

Leonard Bernstein, the composer of On the Town and West Side Story, chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic, television star, humanitarian, and friend of the powerful and influential, was the life of every party.

He was an enormous celebrity in 20th century America, but to his eldest daughter, Jamie, he was the man in the scratchy brown bathrobe who smelled of cigarettes; the jokester and compulsive teacher who enthused about Beethoven and the Beatles; and the insomniac whose 4 am composing breaks involved spooning baby food. He taught his daughter to love the world’s beauty and complexity.

Jamie Bernstein offers a rare look at her father on the centennial of his birth in a deeply intimate and broadly evocative memoir. Famous Father Girl features a fantastic set of characters including the Kennedys, Mike Nichols, John Lennon, Richard Avedon, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, and Betty (Lauren) Bacall.

Best Book of 2018, NPR, Library Journal