American beauty. Marilyn's legend and legacy captured by two journalistic greats. Now TASCHEN has paired Mailer's original text with Bert Stern's photographs from the legendary "Last Sitting" - widely considered the most intimate photographs of Monroe ever taken - to create a fitting tribute to the woman who, at the time of her death in 1962, was the world's most famous, a symbol of glamour and eroticism for an entire generation. But though she was feted and adored by her public, her private life was that of a little girl lost, desperate to find love and security. Mailer's Marilyn is beautiful, tragic, and complex. As Mailer reviews her life - from her bleak childhood, the bruising and sometimes tawdry early years, superstardom, see-saw romantic life, through to the mysterious circumstances of her death - she emerges as a symbol of the bizarre decade during which she reigned as Hollywood's greatest female star. Mailer's masterful text is perfectly complemented by Bert Stern's penetrating photographs of a 36-year old Marilyn for "Vogue", just weeks before her death. Taken over a period of three days, Marilyn had never allowed herself to be scrutinized so closely - nor had she looked so breathtakingly beautiful. In this bold synthesis of literary classic and legendary portrait sitting, Mailer and Stern lift the veils of confusion surrounding Monroe - the woman, the star, the sex symbol - and offer profound insight into an iconic figure whose true personality remains elusive and enigmatic even today.