Laurence Leamer - Work

Work

Leamer is widely regarded as an expert on the Kennedy family due to his exhaustive trilogy on the family, of which The Kennedy Women was the main selection of the Book of the Month Club and reached number two on the New York Times Best Seller list. His other two books on the Kennedys, The Kennedy Men and Sons of Camelot were equally well received. He has often been interviewed by NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, CNN and NPR to lend his expertise to matters concerning the Kennedys, Ronald Reagan, and American politics. In the period following the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr., Leamer served as the on-air consultant for MSNBC's coverage of the plane crash and subsequent funeral. He again served as a consultant during the coverage of former President Ronald Reagan's funeral.

Leamer has not limited himself to covering only the Kennedys, as several of his other books have graced best-seller lists, including his biography of Johnny Carson, King of the Night, which spent over 6 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. In writing his novel, Assignment, Leamer lived in Peru for two years to research the cocaine trade. He again immersed himself in his topic when he moved to Nashville to research the business and lifestyle of country music and its many stars for Three Chords and the Truth. Each of the books were lauded for the depth of their research. Leamer also briefly flirted with movie fame when his work on the life of famed mountaineer Willi Unsoeld was purchased by Robert Redford's production company to be turned into a film. The film remains in the development stages. His newest project is The Price of Justice,book about two Pittsburgh lawyers and their decade and a half struggle against the most powerful coal baron in American history. It involves allegations concerning the deaths of thirty-one miners, the poisoning of the water of hundreds of people, and of judicial corruption in the West Virginia Supreme court and a landmark decision in the United States Supreme Court.