JamesDean embodied the emotional confusion of youth in the 1950s, and as KeithElliott Greenberg points out in his new book, Too Fast to Live, Too Young toDie: James Dean’s Final Hours, he remains a symbol of cool and integrity 60years on. Witness the imbecilic Justin Bieber, who following his arrest for drunkendrag racing posted himself on Instagram dressed up to look like Dean. The responsewas fast, furious and largely negative. “Bieber wishes he could be that cool,”was one of the kinder comments Greenberg reproduced.
Thesubtitle promises a book on Dean’s last hours before death in a car crash whosedetails remain disputed—but there isn’t enough there for a book. WhatGreenfield accomplishes instead is to weave the story of his death into ahighly readable account of his life, especially his small town upbringing, withdigressions into Dean’s enduring fandom and the legends surrounding the car hedied in, a rare sports car, a Porsche Spyder.
Salvagedafterward, the car behaved like something out of Stephen King and continued toclaim lives. Incredibly, in 1960, the Spyder disappeared in transit in a boxcarunder guard by Pinkerton agents. The owner was happy to get it off his hands.Dean died in Sept. 30, 1955; Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die is a fineanniversary tribute.
