Frank Capra: A Life

From the author of the beloved Fifth Avenue, Five A.M. and The Big Goodbye comes the definitive account of one of the quintessential American artists, Frank Capra, visionary behind the iconic and timeless It’s a Wonderful Life.

Frank Capra, the director of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It Happened One Night, and, supremely, It’s a Wonderful Life remains one of the great chroniclers of the American heart, how we love, lead, dream, hope, and fight for our individuality. But Frank Capra was a more complex artist than is usually reckoned and a more complicated man than anyone knows. As his most famous collaborator Jimmy Stewart put it, “the best Frank Capra story is the story of his own life. It’s got more highs and lows than a roller coaster. It’s heartwarming. It’s kind of hard to believe, really. And it could only happen in America.”

Like many great American stories, this story begins in Ellis Island where a penniless family of Sicilian immigrants arrives in 1903. Frank Capra’s life goes on to take in the explosive growth of Southern California and the film industry, the depths of the Depression, the enormity of the Second World War, and America’s uneasy post-war as an empire riven by a loss of unity. It is a life as shot through with both “moonbeams” and melancholy as that of his greatest creation, George Bailey. Capra is both the exemplar of American ideals, as in his truly vital work for Roosevelt’s war effort, and of American failings, as in his informing during the McCarthy period.

This extraordinary book, making full use for the first time of Capra’s own archives, including deeply personal writings from his later years, has brought this seminal artist into urgent life. At the same time, in its epic richness, it offers a dazzling portrait of both a lost America and an enduring one.

"Sam Wasson’s supremely entertaining new book, The Path to Paradise, tracks the ups and downs, ins and outs, of a remarkable career. . . . A marvel of unshowy reportage." - New York Times

“A bold new book. . . . Wasson’s one of the best at writing about the lives of artists.” - CBS Saturday Morning on The Path to Paradise

“The Path to Paradise puts you there, and shows how Coppola got so close to the sun. . . . Wasson captures the extreme ups and downs with a combination of precision and imagination, often bringing an appropriately gonzo tone to the story.” - The Los Angeles Times on The Path to Paradise

“Wasson’s getting pretty good at this, isn’t he? After entertaining us to no end in behind-the-scenes treats such as Fifth Avenue, Five A.M. (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and The Big Goodbye (Chinatown)—not to mention a massive Bob Fosse bio, and a fine oral history of Hollywood, co-authored with the great Jeanine Basinger—we get this: an inside look at Francis Ford Coppola and his independent studio, Zoetrope. . . . his book is a movie-lover’s feast.” - Esquire on The Path to Paradise

“Wasson’s account will hold immense appeal for any film buff interested in the era, as will the cast of Mr. Coppola’s peers, proteges and adversaries ranging from John Milius to Steven Spielberg and Michael Cimino. The already thick lore around the absolutely berserk production of Mr. Coppola’s Apocalypse Now gets an additional layer, but equally fascinating is the exploration of ambitious failures like 1981’s One From the Heart and big-budget flops like 1984’s The Cotton Club.” - The Wall Street Journal on The Path to Paradise