 | This article is an autobiography or has been extensively edited by the subject or by someone connected to the subject.(July 2013) |
Frank Sanello | |
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| Born | 17 May 1952 [1] Joliet, Illinois, USA |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | BA (English literature) MFA (Screenwriting) |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
Frank Sanello (born May 17, 1952) is an author and journalist who writes about the entertainment industry, cultural anthropology, politics, social issues, and revisionist history.
Born and raised in Joliet, Illinois, he graduated from University of Chicago with a BA in English literature, and from University of California, Los Angeles with an MFA in screenwriting. [2]
Before becoming an author, Sanello wrote for various outlets such as The New York Times Syndicate, the Los Angeles Daily News , the Los Angeles Times , The Washington Post , The Boston Globe , the Chicago Sun-Times , and the Chicago Tribune . [2] [3] [4] [5] He was also a reporter for People Weekly and Us Weekly . [6] In 1986 he worked as a segment producer pre-interviewing guests for the host of The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers .
His two weekly columns about the entertainment industries were syndicated internationally by United Media in the 1980s and 1990s. During that time, Sanello interviewed dozens of film and TV executives and hundreds of actors, producers and directors. [2]
Publication of The Opium Wars (2002) in China was unusual because Chinese scholars and government watchdogs typically rejected Western accounts of their history as biased and Eurocentric. The book attempted to offer a more balanced account of the two conflicts fought between Britain and China in the mid-19th century. In his critique of The Opium Wars in the East Asian Review of Books, Wayne E. Yang wrote: "Those who believe the dictum that 'those who fail to learn [from] history are doomed to repeat it' have fodder in W. Travis Hanes III and Frank Sanello's The Opium Wars." [7] In a review for the American Library Association's Booklist, Jay Freeman wrote: "[This] account of the causes, military campaigns, and tragic effects of these wars is absorbing, frequently macabre, and deeply unsettling." Publishers Weekly wrote, "Hanes (Imperial Diplomacy in the Era of Decolonization) and film author and former Los Angeles Daily News critic Sanello have teamed up to produce this fine popular account... The book covers a familiar time and place in history, but the authors make some nice analogies between the brutal economics and empire of the 19th century, and 21st-century forms of money, politics and war." [8]
The cautionary nature of Sanello’s Tweakers: How Crystal Meth Is Ravaging Gay America (2005) was noted in a review in the gay magazine, Edge Boston: "More than 250 crystal users and those who treat them were interviewed for this book. One after another, stories were told of lives destroyed by a seductive drug." As a gay activist, Sanello has lectured on methamphetamine abuse in the gay community and was a guest-speaker on the topic at a conference and seminar in San Francisco. Tweakers was the source of a feature-length video of the same name in 2007, and featured grim, on-camera accounts of recovering and active methamphetamine addicts, adapted from case histories in Sanello's book.
Another nonfiction book by Sanello, The Knights Templars: God’s Warriors, the Devil’s Bankers, garnered international interest because of The Da Vinci Code’s fictional treatment of the Medieval monastic order. Sanello’s examination of the Templars, which debunked myths about their survival today as Freemasons, was also published in the Czech Republic and elsewhere.
The author taught college-extension courses at the Gay & Lesbian Center in Los Angeles on how to write and find a publisher for a nonfiction book. He also taught English composition at the University of Phoenix.
In 1999, Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman sued Sanello and Carol Publishing for $30 million, for defamation. [9] [10] In Naked Instinct: The Unauthorized Biography of Sharon Stone, (Carol Publishing, 1997) Sanello had quoted comments a jury later determined had been made by William Skrzyniarz, a partner at the firm which represented Stone, concerning Stone's private life. [11]
The libel suit was generated by a brief passage in Sanello's biography of Stone: "Although I had identified myself as Stone's biographer, one of Meyer's partners, William Skrzyniarz, told me after two bottles of Merlot on New Year's Eve 1996, 'When Sharon wants someone, she rents a hotel room and tells him exactly when and where to show up. She makes it clear it's a one-time opportunity, take it or leave it. She's made the move on some major names.' Skrzyniarz became circumspect when I asked him to name names." [12]
The lawsuit was not intended to determine if the information Sanello quoted about Stone's private life in his biography of the actress was true because Stone did not sue the publisher or her biographer. The lawsuit was filed by Rosenfeld, Meyer, & Susman to prove that a member of its firm, Skrzyniarz, had not told Sanello information about the actress' private life. The jury determined that Sanello and the publisher had not defamed Skrzyniarz or Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman. Sanello and the publisher were also acquitted of another charge, tortious interference, that alleged Sanello's biography had prompted the firm's star client to seek alternate counsel and thus had economically damaged the firm. [13]
The case did not involve determining whether or not the comments about Stone's private life attributed to Skrzyniarz by Sanello were true. The suit alleged that Skrzyniarz had never made the comments quoted by Sanello in Stone's bio and consequently that the publisher and author had libeled Skrzyniarz and his law firm. [14]
After a four-week trial in Los Angeles Superior Court in Santa Monica, Calif., the jury found in favor of the publisher of Naked Instinct, Schragis, and the author, Sanello. The jurors determined that the law firm of Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman had not been libeled or economically damaged. The legal term for economic damage is "unlawful interference with economic interests." [15]
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress and painter. Known for primarily playing femmes fatale and mysterious women in film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a nomination for an Academy Award. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995 and was named Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 2005.
The First Opium War, also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of their ban on the opium trade by seizing private opium stocks from merchants at Guangzhou and threatening to impose the death penalty for future offenders. Despite the opium ban, the British government supported the merchants' demand for compensation for seized goods, and insisted on the principles of free trade and equal diplomatic recognition with China. Opium was Britain's single most profitable commodity trade of the 19th century. After months of tensions between the two states, the Royal Navy launched an expedition in June 1840, which ultimately defeated the Chinese using technologically superior ships and weapons by August 1842. The British then imposed the Treaty of Nanking, which forced China to increase foreign trade, give compensation, and cede Hong Kong Island to the British. Consequently, the opium trade continued in China. Twentieth-century nationalists considered 1839 the start of a century of humiliation, and many historians consider it the beginning of modern Chinese history.
The Second Opium War, also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted Great Britain, France, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China.
The Opium Wars were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century.
William John Napier, 9th Lord Napier, Baron Napier FRSE was a British Royal Navy officer and trade envoy in China.
Katharine Meyer Graham was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. She was the first 20th century female publisher of a major American newspaper and the first woman elected to the board of the Associated Press.
Basic Instinct is a 1992 neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. Starring Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Wayne Knight, the film follows San Francisco police detective Nick Curran (Douglas) as he investigates the brutal murder of a wealthy rock star. During the course of the investigation, Curran becomes entangled in a passionate and intense relationship with Catherine Tramell (Stone), an enigmatic writer and the prime suspect.
Lin Zexu, courtesy name Yuanfu, was a Chinese political philosopher and politician. He was a head of state (Viceroy), Governor General, scholar-official, and under the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynasty best known for his role in the First Opium War of 1839–42. He was from Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Lin's forceful opposition to the opium trade was a primary catalyst for the First Opium War. He is praised for his constant position on the "moral high ground" in his fight, but he is also blamed for a rigid approach which failed to account for the domestic and international complexities of the problem. The Emperor endorsed the hardline policies and anti-drugs movement advocated by Lin, but placed all responsibility for the resulting disastrous Opium War onto Lin.
Thomas Coutts was a British banker. He was a founder of the banking house Coutts & Co.
Joseph Christian Leyendecker was one of the most prominent and financially successful freelance commercial artists in the U.S. He was active between 1895 and 1951 producing drawings and paintings for hundreds of posters, books, advertisements, and magazine covers and stories. He is best known for his 80 covers for Collier's Weekly, 322 covers for The Saturday Evening Post, and advertising illustrations for B. Kuppenheimer men's clothing and Arrow brand shirts and detachable collars. He was one of the few known gay artists working in the early-twentieth century U.S.
Lyle Stuart was an American author and independent publisher of controversial books. He worked as a newsman for years before launching his publishing firm, Lyle Stuart, Incorporated.
Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as half broadsheet. The size became associated with sensationalism, and tabloid journalism replaced the earlier label of yellow journalism and scandal sheets. Not all newspapers associated with tabloid journalism are tabloid size, and not all tabloid-size newspapers engage in tabloid journalism; in particular, since around the year 2000 many broadsheet newspapers converted to the more compact tabloid format.
Clifford Gilpin Snyder, professionally Cliffie Stone, was an American country singer, musician, record producer, music publisher, and radio and TV personality who was pivotal in the development of California's thriving country music scene after World War II during a career that lasted six decades. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
The Battle of Ningpo was an unsuccessful Chinese attempt to recapture the British-occupied city of Ningbo (Ningpo) during the First Opium War. British forces had bloodlessly captured the city after their victory at Chinhai, and a Chinese force under the command of Prince Yijing was sent to recapture the city but was repulsed, suffering heavy casualties. The British eventually withdrew from the city the following spring.
Robert Thom was an English nineteenth century Chinese language translator and diplomat based in Canton who worked for the trading house Jardine, Matheson & Co. and was seconded to the British armed forces during the First Opium War (1839 – 1842). For his literary works Thom used Sloth as a nom de plume.
Lu Kun, was a Chinese politician of the Qing dynasty. He was a student of politician and scholar Ruan Yuan. He was born in Zhuozhou Prefecture, Shuntian Fu (顺天府).
The history of opium in China began with the use of opium for medicinal purposes during the 7th century. In the 17th century the practice of mixing opium with tobacco for smoking spread from Southeast Asia, creating a far greater demand.
The destruction of opium at Humen began on 3 June 1839 and involved the destruction of 1,000 long tons of illegal opium seized from British traders under the aegis of Lin Zexu, an Imperial Commissioner of Qing China. Conducted on the banks of the Pearl River outside Humen Town, Dongguan, China, the action provided casus belli for Great Britain to declare war on Qing China. What followed is now known as the First Opium War (1839–1842), a conflict that initiated China's opening for trade with foreign nations under a series of treaties with the western powers.
Madagascar was a 19th-century paddle steamer that served the British Empire as a troop transport in the First Opium War, during which conflict an accidental fire destroyed her.
Tina Susman is an American journalist and editor. A senior editor at Time from 2019-2022, she was previously the national editor for BuzzFeed News and while at the Los Angeles Times had multiple roles, starting as Baghdad bureau chief and moving on to become a national correspondent based in New York. Prior to that she oversaw and contributed coverage from at least 15 countries in Africa for the Associated Press and Newsday, part of the over-five-fold trend in the increase of women war correspondents from 1970 to 1992. She left Time in 2022 and was a senior editor at the tech news site Protocol.com until its closure in December 2022. While reporting for the Associated Press in 1994, Susman was kidnapped in Somalia and held for 20 days. For this, she was featured in an episode of Oprah and on MSNBC among other outlets, and her case became the subject of debate about whether the Associated Press should have withheld news of the kidnapping.
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