Double-Edged Sword

Sidney Franklin (190376) was the last person youd expect to become a bullfighter. The streetwise son of a Russian Jewish cop, Franklin had an all-American boyhood in early twentieth-century Brooklyn, while hiding the fact that he was gay. A violent confrontation with his father sent him packing to Mexico City, where first he opened a business, then opened his mouthbragging that Americans had the courage to become bullfighters. Training with iconic matador Rodolfo Gaona, Franklins dare spawned a legend. Following years in small-town Mexican bullrings, he put his moxie where his mouth was, taking Spain by storm as the first American matador. Franklins 1929 rise coincided with that of his friend Ernest Hemingways, until a bulls horn in a most inappropriate place almost ended his careerand his life. Bart Paul illuminates the artistry and violence of the mysterious ritual of the bulls as he tells the story of this remarkable man, from life in revolutionary Mexico to triumphs in Spain, from the pages of Death in the Afternoon to the destructive vortex of Hemingways affair with Martha Gellhorn during the bloody Spanish Civil War. This is the story of a gay man who triumphed over prejudice and adversity as he achieved what no American had ever accomplished, teaching even Hemingway lessons in grace, machismo, and respect.