Swans and Pistols
Modeling, Motherhood, and Making It in the Me Generation
By Leon Bing
November 2009
$25.00
240 pp
6.125 x 9.25 in
Hardcover
By Leon Bing
A vivid portrait of a woman finding her place in the glamorous world of Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s-perfect for readers of high-flying memoirs such as Pattie Boyd's Wonderful Tonight.
Fashion icon, Broadway and Hollywood insider, mob mistress, confidante to notorious gang members of both Crips and Bloods, wife, mother, award-winning journalist, Léon Bing has not followed the typical path through life. From her formative relationship with her mother to her days as a star model to her sisterly relationship with Mama Cass Elliot and ultimate reinvention as the author of the bestselling gang exposé, Do or Die, Swans and Pistols details Bing's always exciting and sometimes dangerous life. In a series of riveting stories of unconventionality, Bing wrestles with the themes of mothers, daughters, and reinvention-a concept inseparable from the experience of her early adult life in the 1960s and the city she called home.Reviews for Swans and Pistols :
"One of a host of players that makes the Southern California art scene of the '50s and '60s into a glowing bohemia, Bing has an enviable combination of chutzpah and good fortune. a summation of a most unusual life, and at the conclusion, one can hardly help but recall the wisdom of Mae West: good girls go to heaven but bad girls, and lucky girls, get to go everywhere." —Artnet magazine
An *excellent* feature on Léon and Swans and Pistols in the New York Times Styles section. Racked, a blog about shopping, neighborhood stores and the retail scene of New York City, picked up the Cathy Horyn piece above in the New York Times.
“Bing can turn a lovely phrase and displays intelligence…[Swans and Pistols] really comes alive near the end when curiosity about homeless kids in Venice, Calif., leads her to write an article that unexpectedly launches her journalism career.” —Publishers Weekly
“In these recollections, the author’s writing finds a steady rhythm that effectively conveys her passion, trepidation and love…Worth reading…for the author’s ability to trace her journey through the many joys and obstacles of life in the modern era.”—Kirkus Reviews
“The highlight of the book is…Bing's first foray into journalism, when she was well past 30, landed her an LA Weekly cover story and led to a book deal for Do or Die, one of the first examinations of L.A. gangs.”—Los Angeles Magazine.
Praise for Do or Die:
“A powerful portrait of life on the streets.”—Vogue
"Ambitious and provocative.”—Chicago Tribune
“Bing is a reporter of remarkable vividness and subtlety…passionately objective…a remarkable, compellingly readable piece of reporting.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Fascinating and frightening.”—Los Angeles Times
