Four Friends: Promising Lives Cut Short

In his masterful pieces for Vanity Fair and in his bestselling books, William D. Cohan has proved to be one of the most meticulous and intrepid journalists covering the world of Wall Street and high finance. In his new book, Four Friends, he brings all of his brilliant reportorial skills to a subject much closer to home: four friends of his who died young. All attended Andover, the most elite of American boarding schools, before spinning out into very different orbits. Using interviews from wives, colleagues, and friends, Cohan brings these men to life on the page.

Jack Berman, child of Holocaust survivors, uses his Andover pedigree to achieve the American dream only to be cut down in an unimaginable act of violence. Will Daniel, Harry Truman’s grandson and son of the managing editor of The New York Times, tries desperately to escape the burdens of a family legacy he’s ultimately trapped by. Harry Bull builds the life of a successful Chicago lawyer and heir to his family’s fortune…before taking a devastating risk on a beautiful summer day. And the life and death of John F. Kennedy, Jr.-a story we think we know-is told here with surprising new details that cast it in an entirely different light.

Four Friends is an inspiring account of promising lives cut short written with compassion and honesty. It captures not only the fragility of life but also its magisterial and pivotal moments.