Give Gerald Clarke, the senior former Time Magazine contributor and author of Capote, a hand for manuevering his ethereal subject, Truman Capote, into a bear-hug, and pinning him decisively on the mat, in this immensely readable and well written expose/biography..I literally laughed out loud on numerous occassions, at bitchy quotes from Capote, particularly when asked about Jacqueline Susann, at that time the author of the best selling book in the world, "Valley Of the Dolls"..Not surprisingly, Capote was confounded and chagrined at the avalanche of her success, moreso when Johnny Carson popped the question on The Tonite Show what Truman thought about it's author Ms. Susann, and Capote snidely weighed in on her noteably dark, exaggerated, masculine features.."Well, to me she rather looks like a truckdriver in drag."..Capote always understood the head-line value of a zinger, and knew the public cherishes the over-the-top one liner long after all else is forgiven, or forgotten!..And Capote traded on his New Orleans bred "queenie" charm to barter his way into a clubby-high society world inhabited by his "swans", the wives of the wealthiest tycoons of that era..Clark debriefs in scholarly detail exactly how Capote trafficked on his wit and wile to move up the ladder, both professionally and personally, despite his miniaturish staure, baby-talk voice, and fey Oscar Wildeian mannerisms, he was a firecracker..And a dead-eye for exquisite, ante-bellum detail, with a musical, melodic ear for phrasings, reminiscent of F.Scott Fitzgerald, except possibly more refined, more psychological..Read this biography, and then see "Capote", the film, the section of this book that deals with "In Cold Blood," the gothic retelling of a senseless slaughter of an upright, God-fearing family in Kansas by two low grade drifters..You will appreciate the movie that much more, and too, realize how multi-talented Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the actor is, to have captured the chameleon qualities of this obvious bounder, and how Truman Capote was for a time the Man of the Moment in American Letters.