January 1, 2025
Published in the U.S. for the first time (after being published in France in 1949), this autobiography by legendary dancer and singer Baker spans a remarkable period of time, from the Harlem Renaissance through Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, with 1920s Paris and WWII in between. Prepub Alert.
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December 15, 2024
A freewheeling account of the boundary-smashing entertainer's first four decades. First published in 1949, this is less a memoir than a transcription by French journalist Marcel Sauvage (whose original introduction is included) of conversations he had over the course of 15 years with expatriate American sensation Josephine Baker (1906-75). Born in St. Louis, Baker left her impoverished family at 16 and was on Broadway at 17 in the chorus of the landmark Black musicalShuffle Along. Still a teenager, she hit Paris in 1925 and rocketed to fame for her uninhibited dancing; surviving film documents her charisma and acrobatic gyrations. All factual details about her life and career, including multiple marriages and affairs, must be gleaned in passing from Baker's decidedly impressionistic recollections, which ramble unabashedly to give a vivid impression of her ebullient personality, extravagant love for animals, and overflowing generosity for the world's unfortunates. Extensive touring in Europe, North Africa, and South America prompted endless protests about her "immorality," usually fostered by the Catholic Church, but proved a useful cover for her intelligence work for the Free French during World War II. Despite conservative criticisms, Baker felt freer and more accepted in France than she had as a girl in the United States, and she is forthright about her indignation over the racism she encountered on a postwar American visit; she served in the fight against Germany "because of their race policy," she comments, but "I found it again, more insidious, more hideous, perhaps, among the people who claimed to fight against it," in the North as well as the South. (Her comments about exploitive Jewish landlords and shop owners in Harlem, though balanced by condemnation of American antisemitism, prompt a nervous disclaimer in this volume's foreword.) The book closes with verbal snapshots of her many famous friends. Baker's charmingly scattershot reminiscences flag the need for a full-scale biography of this remarkable woman.
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January 1, 2025
Josephine Baker's incredible life has been chronicled often, but her 1949 memoir, available in English in the U.S. for the first time, is the only account written in her voice. As such, it reads like Baker herself, exuberant, slyly humorous, and imbued with an all-encompassing warmth and compassion. She cheerfully recounts the outrage across Europe over her African-style "Danse Sauvage" and her "moral decadence." Regardless, Baker finds something to love and admire in every place she visits, with France remaining first and forever in her heart. Recruited by French counterintelligence during WWII, she took advantage of her society contacts to pass information to the Free French. For her bravery and commitment, she was honored with a Medal of the Resistance. Alas, her home country was less welcoming. Returning to the States in the 1950s, she was appalled by the hypocrisy of American racism. Justice was an indelible part of her makeup. As a child she had "promised myself that when I was strong I would fight everyone who was mean to the poor, whether they were kings or not." A promise well-kept, a life brilliantly lived.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Fascination with Josephine Baker runs high, and readers, especially those who loved Agent Josephine (2022), will flock to her memoir.
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