The View From Babylon: Notes of a Hollywood Voyeur

As luxurious as it is decadent, it is host to lush and extravagant galas, aglitter with the rich and famous, overrun by exotic cars, rife with crazed body builders,peopled by agents scoffing at nine-figure deals, and haunted by greed, ambition, and despair. Devastated by earthquakes, it is even more gloriously rebuilt. But beneath it all echo the cries of infants murdered by drug addicted parents, husbands who kill themselves in hotel rooms, and marriages broken over bank accounts. From the best to the worst, Donald Rawley offers it all up in a sprawling book that captivates the reader with its devastating honesty.

"Donald Rawley is the literary equivalent of amyl nitrate. Reading this searing talent may give you a heart attack, but you'll die with a twisted, sated smile of gratitude on your lips." -- Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight

"Donald Rawley makes myth of our contemporary lives." -- Kate Braverman

"Rawley's style is sumptuous and baroque. He has an uncanny knack for making the bizarre beautiful and for capturing the pathos and peculiar dignity of characters who wouldn't ordinarily command respect." -- The Observer, London

"Rawley's writing blazes unapologetically fecund and startling, like some kind of bird of paradise from Mars." -- Sandra Tsing Loh, author of Depth Takes a Holiday