As a literary phenomenon, there is less to Nancy Reagan than meets the eye. Kitty Kelley is hardly the only slash-and-burn chronicler currently at work. Her smartest move has been to choose living victims for her killer bios; speaking ill of the dead (Albert Goldman on Elvis and John Lennon, Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington on Pablo Picasso) is profitable but a tad less sensational. And the instant renown achieved by Kelley's Nancy does not really signal the end of civilization as we have known it. Good, balanced, substantial biographies about controversial figures continue to appear and win notice. Last week Jackson Pollock:...
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