Laurence Leamer

Laurence Leamer (born October 30, 1941) is an American author and journalist. Leamer is a former Ford Fellow in International Development at the University of Oregon and a former International Fellow at Columbia University. He is regarded as an expert on the Kennedy family and has appeared in numerous media outlets discussing American politics. Leamer has also written best-selling biographies of other Americans, including Johnny Carson, the Reagan family, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has also written a book about Donald Trump's historical resort, Mar-a-Lago. His book, Capote's Women, was a national bestseller, and was adapted as the second season of Feud, starring Naomi Watts and directed by Gus Van Sant.

Biography Leamer was born in Chicago and later moved to upstate New York with his family, where he attended Vestal Central High School. He attended Antioch College, where he spent a year in France, studied at the Université de Besançon, and worked in a factory. He received his B.A. in History from Antioch, in 1964. After his graduation, Leamer joined the Peace Corps and was stationed in the mountains of Nepal. When he returned home, Leamer studied both at the University of Oregon and the Columbia University School of Journalism, where he graduated second in his class, in 1969, while being named a Pulitzer International Fellow. In writing his novel, Assignment, Leamer lived in Peru for two years, to research the cocaine trade. The author has one daughter, Daniela, and two grandchildren. The couple maintain residences in Palm Beach, Florida and Washington, D.C. Leamer's late brother, Edward, was an economics professor at UCLA, the Chauncey J. Medberry Chair in Management, and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. His other brother, Robert, is an attorney and executive vice president of a Brooklyn-based long-term care health system.

Books

The Paper Revolutionaries: The Rise of the Underground Press – 1972 Playing for Keeps in Washington – 1977 Assignment – 1979 Ascent: The Spiritual and Physical Quest of Willi Unsoeld – 1982 Make-Believe: The Story of Nancy and Ronald Reagan – 1983 As Time Goes By: The Life of Ingrid Bergman – 1986 King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson – 1989 The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family – 1994 Three Chords and the Truth: Hope, Heartbreak, and Changing Fortunes in Nashville – 1997 The Kennedy Men 1901–1963: The Laws of the Father – 2001 Sons of Camelot: The Fate of an American Dynasty- 2004 Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger – 2005 Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach – 2009 The Price of Justice: A True Story of Corruption and Greed in Coal Country – 2013 The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan – 2016 The President's Butler – 2016 Mar-A-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump's Presidential Palace – 2019 Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era – 2021 Hitchcock's Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director's Dark Obsession – 2023 Warhol's Muses