Bernard Cooper

A contemporary account of growing up and coming to terms with a bewildering father. Dour and exuberant by turns, Edward Cooper's moods dictated the always uncertain climate of the household. As the book begins, Bernard and his father are the last remaining members of the family that once included his mother and three older brothers. Now retired and living in a run-down trailer, Edward Cooper had once been a celebrated divorce attorney. An expert at...

In this lively memoir, art critic and writer Cooper retraces his youth, up to and including the period of his intellectual awakening during the heyday of conceptual art, and vividly recalls his experiences as a son, brother, student, and closeted young gay man. Alternately funny and touching, the book chronicles Cooper's adolescence in 1960s Los Angeles, including the moment he fell in love with pop art in his middle school library, and his young...