Possessed: The Life Of Joan Crawford by Donald Spoto (Arrow, £8.99)
Spoto does a good job of rescuing his heroine from the horrendous mauling she got in her adopted daughter's memoir Mommie Dearest. Crawford's ambition came from the grinding poverty of her childhood, and she understood the rules of the studio system, learning as much as she could. A more humble, yet still ruthless, figure emerges.
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