You could make a case that Bill Cosby is America’s most popular jazzman. For most of his life, Cosby, who recently performed at the Evergreen State Fair, has been riffing, improvising, playing off audiences and other performers, all the while making it sound like he knew where he was going all along.
When he hit the right groove, Cosby broke new ground. “Cosby: His Life and Times,” the first major biography of one of America’s most beloved figures, captures all of it, along with the occasional misfires and darker moments.
— Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The book by journalist Mark Whitaker is not exactly an objective, warts-and-all look at its subject. While Whitaker acknowledges Cosby’s shortcomings — his philandering, his distrust of outsiders — he is clearly a fan, and more often than not gives the comedian the benefit of the doubt, or at least the last word.
Still, the book is a solid, well-researched reminder of Cosby’s impact on the pop-culture landscape.
— Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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