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A Memoir
by Josephine Baker
Published in the US for the first time, Fearless and Free is the memoir of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker, the iconic dancer, singer, spy, and Civil Rights activist.
After stealing the spotlight as a teenaged Broadway performer during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Josephine then took Paris by storm, dazzling audiences across the Roaring Twenties. In her famous banana skirt, she enraptured royalty and countless fans—Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso among them. She strolled the streets of Paris with her pet cheetah wearing a diamond collar. With her signature flapper bob and enthralling dance moves, she was one of the most recognizable women in the world.
When World War II broke out, Josephine became a decorated spy for the French Résistance. Her celebrity worked as her cover, as she hid spies in her entourage and secret messages in her costumes as she traveled. She later joined the Civil Rights movement in the US, boycotting segregated concert venues, and speaking at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
First published in France in 1949, her memoir will now finally be published in English. At last we can hear Josephine in her own voice: charming, passionate, and brave. Her words are thrilling and intimate, like she's talking with her friends over after-show drinks in her dressing room. Through her own telling, we come to know a woman who danced to the top of the world and left her unforgettable mark on it.
"A vivid impression of her ebullient personality, extravagant love for animals, and overflowing generosity." —Kirkus Reviews
"The memoir captures how Baker thinks and feels (her empathy for suffering people comes up often) and her philosophies of life and performance…This dialogue with Baker revels in her poetic and often humorous way of speaking." —Library Journal
"In Fearless and Free, Josephine Baker—groundbreaking performer, audacious spy, and unflinching Civil Rights activist—shares intimate details of her life and times, proving she's as enthralling on the page as she was on the stage. This gorgeous, captivating gem of a memoir will both introduce Baker to a new generation of readers, and cement her legacy as an enduring international icon." —Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author of Eden Undone and Sin in the Second City
"Fearless and Free is a remarkable story of a remarkable woman. Reading Josephine Baker's life in her own words is like having the world's greatest tour guide to pivotal movements in history. The book allowed me to see the Roaring Twenties, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement with fresh eyes. It is everything you hope a memoir could be." —Matthew F. Delmont, author of New York Times Notable Book Half American
This information about Fearless and Free was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was a Broadway performer, dancer, and singer who headlined across Europe, and the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture. She served as a spy for the French Résistance, earning honors for her valor. She was a Civil Rights activist who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. She passed away in 1975, and in 2021 Baker became the first Black woman to enter France's Panthéon.
Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
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