Fortune in My Eyes: A Memoir of Broadway Glamour, Social Justice, and Political Passion

David Rothenberg's multilayered life has thrust him into Broadway's brightest lights, prison riots, political campaigns, civil rights sit-ins, and a Central American civil war. In his memoir, Fortune in My Eyes, Rothenberg recounts a thriving career ... Read more

David Rothenberg's multilayered life has thrust him into Broadway's brightest lights, prison riots, political campaigns, civil rights sit-ins, and a Central American civil war. In his memoir, Fortune in My Eyes, Rothenberg recounts a thriving career as a press agent and producer, which turned into a passion for social justice, standing up for the marginalized and oppressed. From an activist coming of age to an emotional coming out, Rothenberg details his battles with racial segregation, McCarthyism, homophobia, and a system unresponsive to the AIDS crisis. However, it was producing an off-Broadway prison drama, Fortune and Men's Eyes, that led Rothenberg to create the Fortune Society, now one of the nation's most formidable advocacy and service organizations in criminal justice, founded on the belief that society's toughest members are also some of its most vulnerable, and even prison inmates and the formerly incarcerated deserve the chance to turn their lives around. Over the course of Fortune in My Eyes, Rothenberg bridges the gap between glamorous celebrity and gritty reality. He chronicles friendships and encounters with some of show business's biggest names. But Rothenberg's most meaningful relationships are arguably with people whose names don't grace the marquee-the currently and formerly imprisoned men and women who have fought to reclaim their lives. Rothenberg not only witnesses but also helps make possible these remarkable transformations, highlighting the real human drama of people affected by a deeply flawed institution. Book jacket. Less