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A writer, Levin only has seven published novels to his credit. But what novels: Rosemary's Baby (1967), where a woman gives birth to the devil's son. The Stepford Wives (1972), where suburban women have apparently been replaced by subservient androids. The Boys From Brazil (1976), where Josef Mengele works to clone Hitler. The others: A Kiss Before Dying (1953), This Perfect Day (1970), Sliver (1991), and the "Rosemary" sequel Son of Rosemary (1997). He also wrote the play Deathtrap (1978), the longest-running comedy thriller on Broadway. Together, Levin's books sold tens of millions of copies, and most were made into movies -- sometimes more than once. He was a bit uncomfortable that "Rosemary" started a trend. "I feel guilty that Rosemary's Baby led to The Exorcist [and] The Omen," he once said, and that "a whole generation [thus] has more belief in Satan. I don't believe in Satan. And I feel that the strong fundamentalism we have would not be as strong if there hadn't been so many of these books." On the other hand, he added, "I didn't send back any of the royalty checks." Levin died November 12 at his New York City home. He was 78. From This is True for 10 November 2007 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Ira Levin List Price: $7.99 Amazon Price: $7.99 Editorial Review: When published in 1967, Rosemary's Baby was one of the first contemporary horror novels to become a national bestseller. Ira Levin's second novel (he went on to write such fine thrillers as A Kiss Before Dying, The Stepford Wives, and The Boys from Brazil), Rosemary's Baby, remains perhaps his best work. The author's mainstream "this is how it really happened" style undeniably also made the novel his most widely imitated. The plot line is deceptively simple: What if you were a happily married young woman, living in New York, and one day you awoke to find yourself pregnant? And what if your loving husband had--apparently--sold your soul to Satan? And now you were beginning to believe that your unborn child was, in reality, the son of Satan? Levin subtly makes it all totally plausible, unless of course, dear Rosemary--or the reader--can no longer distinguish fantasy from reality! A wonderfully chilling novel, it was later faithfully transformed into an equally unnerving motion picture. In 1997, a sequel was spawned, Son of Rosemary. --Stanley WiaterThe young couple. The new neighbors. The suicide. The amulet. The doctor. The herbs. The anagram. The baby.Rosemary's Baby. In 1967, when Rosemary's Baby was first published, Ira Levin's masterpiece gave horror an innocent new face. It caused a worldwide sensation, found fear where we never thought to look before, and dared to bring it into the sunlight. Now, Rosemary's Baby is back to terrify a whole new generation of readers.  By: Ira Levin List Price: $7.50 Amazon Price: $7.50  By: Ira Levin List Price: $6.99 Amazon Price: $6.99 Editorial Review: All the beautiful people live in the idyllic village of Stepford, Connecticut, an affluent suburban Eden populated with successful, satisfied hubbys and their beautiful, dutiful wives. For Joanna Eberhart, a recent arrival with her husband and two children, it all seems too perfect to be true -- from the sweet, accommodating Welcome Wagon lady to all those cheerful, friendly faces in the supermarket checkout lines. But just beneath the town's flawless surface, something is sordid and wrong -- something abominable with roots in the local Men's Association. And it may already be too late for Joanna to save herself from being devoured by Stepford's hideous perfection.  By: Ira Levin List Price: $15.95 Amazon Price: $15.95 Editorial Review: A Kiss Before Dying not only debuted the talent of best-selling novelist Ira Levin to rave reviews, it also set a new standard in the art of mystery and suspense. Now a modern classic, as gripping in its tautly plotted action as it is penetrating in its exploration of a criminal mind, it tells the shocking tale of a young man who will stop at nothing—not even murder—to get where he wants to go. For he has dreams; plans. He also has charm, good looks, sex appeal, intelligence. And he has a problem. Her name is Dorothy; she loves him, and she's pregnant. The solution may demand desperate measures. But, then, he looks like the kind of guy who could get away with murder. Compellingly, step by determined step, the novel follows this young man in his execution of one plan he had neither dreamed nor foreseen. Nor does he foresee how inexorably he will be enmeshed in the consequences of his own extreme deed.  List Price: $259.70 Amazon Price: $200.95 Editorial Review: This book provides a state-of-the-art review of a major recent technology which has now reached a level of maturity. The editors have pioneered the development and application of these techniques and technologies, and the chapter authors are leading practitioners in their subject areas. The volume encompasses methods and instrumentation across a range of applications. It is directed at researchers and professionals in vibrational spectroscopy, analytical chemistry, materials science, biomedicine, food science and combinatorial chemistry. |
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