Rollyson"s book has been praised by Maurice Zolotow, Fred Lawrence Guiles, and others who have already published books on Monroe. Rollyson acknowledges these books but says that "none of them treats movies as events in the biography of a working actress, events that might fill in the gaps in her identity." While he does concentrate more than other authors on Monroe"s acting methods, Rollyson too often writes in purple prose, e.g., "She is a figure of shadow and light, a delicately poised dark impenetrable body, more nearly a part of the photographic medium than she had ever been before. . . ." Much of the book is straightforward biography, which is better handled by Anthony Summers in Goddess ( LJ 9/15/85). An earnest but nonessential addition to the many Monroe books. John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Freehold, N.J.