A New Biography Reveals the Agony and the Ecstasy of Joan Rivers

It was two years ago, shortly after Joan Rivers's sudden death at 81 following a botched endoscopy procedure, that the journalist Leslie Bennetts decided to write a book about the legendary comedian. Bennetts was at a celebratory lunch with her new publisher when they got down to brass tacks. "My publisher said, 'well, maybe we should publish the book right after the 2016 election,'" the author remembered recently by phone. "Maybe people will be sick of politics and in need of comic relief?" The...