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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year
Reader Score
82%
82% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 8 reviews on
A revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon "A book written as only one artist could view another, with insight and sincere compassion." --Sandra Cisneros, best-selling author of Woman Without Shame In the first biography of Billie Holiday in more than two decades, Paul Alexander--author of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salinger--gives us an unconventional portrait of arguably America's most eminent jazz singer. He 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--a reference to the last two words of Strange Fruit, her moving song about lynching--limns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.
Book Details
- Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
- Publish Date: Feb 13rd, 2024
- Pages: 368
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.60in - 6.40in - 1.60in - 1.35lb
- EAN: 9780593315903
- Categories: • Artists, Architects, Photographers• African American & Black• Music
About the Author
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 a documentary that appeared on American Masters 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.
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"A talented biographer paints a memorable portrait of an American master. . . . Alexander's evocative prose seamlessly complements the painstaking research that he conducted via interviews with contemporaries of Holiday, his thorough archival mining, and his use of never-before-seen material from private collections to distinguish the fact, fiction, and embellishment about Holiday's life that has been disseminated by music critics, early biographers, and Holiday herself. . . . [Alexander] tells Holiday's story while delivering a cogent social history of America in the first half of the 20th century. . . . [Alexander] has written a tale as unique as Holiday's voice and, more importantly, given voice to the life of an American original. An extraordinarily fascinating book." --Kirkus Reviews [starred review] "Making it as real as if you had been there, Paul Alexander has done an incomparable job bringing to life both elements of his title. He shows us the malice and ignorance of Billie's accusers and eventual killers, the love and support of friends, and her own courage and purity of heart. A must- read for all lovers of the immortal Lady Day." --Dan Morgenstern, executive director emeritus, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University "The unfinished life of Billie Holiday haunts us. In Bitter Crop, Paul Alexander tells her story in a way that could put her soul and our questions to rest." --Gloria Steinem, award-winning author and political activist "Perhaps only in this century can we fully change the narrative of Billie Holiday. Billie was a trespasser of taboos, a woman of tenderness and terror, whose story is repeated again and again by working-class women of color. This is a heartfelt ballad of a book written as only one artist could view another, with insight and sincere compassion." --Sandra Cisneros, best-selling author of Woman Without Shame "Paul Alexander brought me right into the room with Billie Holiday. Despite all of her challenges, she remained determined to do what she absolutely had to do--sing! The book is filled with the irony of life--humor, sadness, and everything in between. A truly deep and inspiring work!" --Catherine Russell, Grammy Award-winning jazz artist "Sensitive, searing, and unforgettable as Lady Day herself, Bitter Crop is an exquisite testament that offers breathtaking insight into Holiday's final year. Alexander's tour de force transcends the mythology of Holiday's wounds and bruises to recognize her pure voice and heart, reminding us that Billie Holiday is with us yet." --Rachel Eliza Griffiths, author of Promise "A nonfiction portrait of Billie Holiday that reads like a novel, Bitter Crop takes you into the rooms where she lived and the venues where she performed to give you a revealing, up-close look at a musical genius who became an American icon. A brilliant achievement!" --Don Winslow, New York Times best-selling author of City of Dreams