As co-founder of Random House, Bennett Cerf published works by many of the biggest names in 20th-century fiction and nonfiction. But he was more than just a shrewd and immensely successful businessman. He was also part Gatsby, part glad-handing salesman and part starstruck fanboy of figures as different — and similarly self-centered — as Gertrude Stein, Ayn Rand, Truman Capote and Frank Sinatra.
