Bitter Crop by Paul Alexander

Bitter Crop by Paul Alexander

Bitter Crop is an unconventional portrait of arguably America's most eminent jazz singer. Acclaimed biographer Paul Alexander shrewdly focuses on the last year of her life - with relevant flashbacks to provide context - to evoke and examine the persistent magnificence of Holiday's artistry when it was supposed to have declined, in the wake of her drug abuse, relationships with violent men, and run-ins with the law. During her lifetime and after her death, Billie Holiday was often depicted as a down-on-her-luck junkie severely lacking in self-esteem. Relying on interviews with people who knew her and new material unearthed in private collections and institutional archives, Bitter Crop limns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.

The unfinished life of Billie Holiday haunts usIn Bitter Crop, Paul Alexander tells her story in a way that could put her soul and our questions to rest -- GLORIA STEINEM
In its layered exploration of Holiday's life and death, Bitter Crop shows just what lay behind that tragic, transcendent gift * * Sunday Times * *
Alexander pieces together some wonderful accounts of the singer by her close friends, to depict Holiday as resourceful and resilient * * Wall Street Journal * *
Chronicling Holiday's career, Alexander covers in meticulous detail her early successes; collaborations . . . and the music itself, including 1958's Lady in Satin, her penultimate album and a "masterpiece of longing and sorrow" made singular by her beautifully "damaged, tortured voice". The result is an excellent biography befitting of its inimitable subject * * Publishers Weekly * *
Ambitious. . . . In tracing Holiday's longtime drug and alcohol use, which damaged her health and led to her spending nearly a year in prison for narcotics possession, Alexander also delves into the unwarranted sensationalism with which the press often covered these matters at the time * * New Yorker * *
A revealing, up-close look at a musical genius who became an American icon -- DON WINSLOW
Alexander's evocative prose seamlessly complements the painstaking research that he conducted . . . he has written a tale as unique as Holiday's voice and, more importantly, given voice to the life of an American original * * Kirkus (starred review) * *
The first major Holiday biography in more than two decades, Bitter Crop benefits from a tight focus and a cinematic structure. Alexander sets vivid scenes as he moves through the closing months of a life that was difficult from the start, weaving in detailed flashbacks to provide context for where Holiday found herself during her final act. * * Boston Globe * *
A quietly gripping read * * Harper's Magazine * *
Sensitive, searing and unforgettable as Lady Day herself. Bitter Crop is an exquisite testament -- RACHEL ELIZA GRIFFITHS

Paul Alexander has published eight books, among them Rough Magic, a biography of Sylvia Plath, and Salinger, a biography of J. D. Salinger that was the basis of the documentary Salinger that appeared on PBS, Netflix and HBO. His nonfiction has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Newsday, New York, the Guardian, The Nation, the Washington Post, and Rolling Stone. He teaches at Hunter College in New York.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9781837262410
ISBN 10	1837262411
Titel	Bitter Crop
Autor	Paul Alexander
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Verlag	Canongate Books
Erscheinungsjahr	2024-07-04
Seitenanzahl	368
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar