Before the breakthrough success of Platoon in 1986, Oliver Stone had been wounded as an infantryman in Vietnam, and spent years writing unproduced scripts while driving taxis in New York. Looking back on a productive yet controversial career, Stone discusses his struggle with cocaine addiction following the failure of his first feature, The Hand; his risky on-the-ground research of Miami drug cartels for Scarface; and his friendships with Al Pacino, British producer John Daly, Salvador screenwriter Richard Boyle, and fellow director Michael Cimino.

"A deep book, illuminated and relentless, prose at its best…. What Oliver Stone has written will last, because I have never seen anything like his insights into the way the film industry works."—Werner Herzog