Words and Music: Confessions of an Optimist

From his earliest days as a culture-beat reporter, through a wildly successful four decades in the book business, to his latest philanthropic ventures, Stephen Rubin has witnessed up close the highs & lows of publishing, music, & entertainment over the last half-century. Now, in this refreshingly forthright & uninhibited memoir, he shares the stories & secrets of a legendary career.

Freshly graduated from NYU, Rubin parlayed what had been a music column in his college paper into a freelance writing gig, covering culture, pop & classical music, & Hollywood. This landed him spots in major newspapers & put him in the company of fabulous opera divas, pop singers, & other unforgettable personalities (including his future wife Cynthia, a talent manager). Here, he shares his adventures with such varied & iconic figures as Luciano Pavarotti, Judy Garland, Pierre Boulez, Burt Lancaster, Dimitri Shostakovich, & Gregory Peck.

Rubin recounts how, after joining Bantam Books in 1984, he rose steadily through the ranks of the publishing business, taking readers behind the scenes of the publication of record-breaking bestsellers such as John Grisham's The Firm & Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. With an uncanny ability to right the ship of floundering houses & imprints, he stepped into roles (& on some toes) at Bantam, Doubleday, Transworld, Henry Holt, & Simon & Schuster. He spares no details or feelings as he recounts corporate missteps & personal feuds at the highest levels of the literary world.

Full of riveting detail, engagingly told, & generously leavened with insider dish, this is an unparalleled look at the culture industry from the man who's seen it all first-hand.

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Stephen Rubin joined Bantam Books in 1984 after a 10 year+ career in journalism. Named president & publisher of Doubleday in 1990, he remained there until 2009, interrupted by a 3-year stint in London as chairman of Transworld.