Josephine Baker by Jean-Claude Baker

Josephine Baker by Jean-Claude Baker

Based on twenty years of research and thousands of interviews, this authoritative biography of performer Josephine Baker (1906-1975) provides a candid look at her tempestuous life. Born into poverty in St. Louis, the uninhibited chorus girl became the sensation of Europe and the last century's first black sex symbol. A heroine of the French Resistance in World War I, she entranced figures as diverse as de Gaulle, Tito, Castro, Princess Grace, two popes, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet Josephine was also, as one critic put it, a monster who made Joan Crawford look like the Virgin Mary. Jean-Claude Baker's book also reveals her outbursts that resulted in lasting feuds, her imperious treatment of family and entourage members, and her ambivalent attitudes concerning her ethnic background. Reconciling Josephine's many personas--Jazz-age icon, national hero of France, proponent of Civil Rights, mother of children from across the globe--Josephine: The Hungry Heart gives readers the inside story on a star unlike any other before or since.

In this biography, Baker, all illusions exposed, becomes fascinating, endearing, exasperating, and abundantly alive all over again* The Boston Globe *
Mesmerizing…irresistible…perversely fascinating…a killer achievement. Here is Josephine stripped of glamour and defenses…one of the most paradoxical figures in twentieth-century entertainment. * The New York Times *
The writer's bewitchment is contagious. [Josephine's] exotic beauty, flaming ambition, flashing eyes, rolling hips, small and large peculiarities seduce the reader. -- Maya Angelou, Author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Spiced with some of the best anecdotes in print, and even spicier photos. * Entertainment Weekly *
I was just reading the brilliant Josephine Baker book Josephine: The Hungry Heart by Jean-Claude Baker. It's un-put-downable. It's full of her life and energy. -- Helen Mirren, Oscar-Nominated Actress, Gosford Park