The Fondas: A Hollywood Dynasty (1991)

In his author's note, Peter Collier (coauthor with David Horowitz of books on the Kennedys, the Rockefellers, and the Fords) makes some highfalutin noise about his interest in the way ''generational linkages were forged and broken'' in ''families of wealth and power.'' But on the evidence of The Fondas, Collier also has a generous appetite for good old-fashioned movie-star dirt. Tidbits about bulimia, suicide, family feuds, and the rest of the customary sob-sister fare are more his dish here than the workings of ''wealth and power.'' Nothing wrong with that, but Collier's evident distaste for the Fondas one and all — and his unwillingness to grant them any measure of humanity — severely curtails one's interest in his gossip. B-