Sparkling details . . . clink around Jacobs's biography, Still Here, like ice in a rocks glass. Stritch, who died in 2014, was a true character, "full of piss and vinegar," as Gleason said. It would be possible to write a serviceable book about her life by simply quoting her many one-liners, or by describing her habit of wearing only tights on stage . . . [b]ut Jacobs, an editor of the Styles section of The New York Times, doesn't rely on Stritch's charm to fuel the narrative. --Rachel Syme, The New Yorker

[A] meticulously researched biography, which uses Stritch's struggles with alcoholism as a window into her work and her life . . . as a chronicle of one impossible brilliant actor and the community around her, this biography provides a thoroughly entertaining and vividly drawn picture of show business in the 20th century. --Jason Robert Brown, The New York Times Book Review

Fun . . . hits all the marks . . . Elaine would have loved Jacobs's bio. It's the picture she wanted to leave behind. --John Guare, Book Post

Alexandra Jacobs's Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch is, like all good biographies, sympathetic to its subject yet unsparing in its analysis of her flaws. It also provides a marvelous trip back in time to a Broadway that's gone forever: a Broadway before the advent of megamusicals, of body-miking, of the Disneyfication of Times Square . . . compulsively readable. --Brooke Allen, The Wall Street Journal

Is it worth reading a 352-page biography of an actress whose most famous moment rests on singing one song, 'I'm Still Here?' . . . Let us put it this way: we could happily read 500 pages if they were written by Alexandra Jacobs. It helps, of course, that Stritch was such a character, that Jacobs was granted access to Stritch's archives and family, and that candor comes easily to anyone Jacobs interviews. --Air Mail

Compulsively readable . . . ravenously consuming . . . manna from heaven . . . If ever someone knew how to put a genuinely irresistible book together, it's Jacobs in Still Here. --Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News

Stritch famously loved a good time and a good story, so she probably would have enjoyed Jacobs's gossipy text, studded with juicy anecdotes . . . an absorbing story. --Wendy Smith, The Washington Post

A fab read . . . Still Here will make you feel as if Stritch, brought back to life, is looking into your eyes and singing just for you. --Kathi Wolfe, Washington Blade

[Still Here is] meticulously researched (supported by extensive interview and archival records), gossipy, vivid in period detail and atmosphere, and even analytical, guided by a central attempt to come to grips with Stritch's onstage luminosity and offstage behavior . . . Highly enjoyable and full of personality. --Matt Windman, Theater News Online

This book, lush with detail and heavy on Broadway history, will appeal to Stritch fans and theater geeks everywhere. --Publishers Weekly

Alexandra Jacobs incorporates an astonishing amount of research, including countless personal interviews . . . her portrayal of Stritch is wholly fleshed out, from the actor's earliest days as a socialite in Detroit to her time as the reigning grand dame of Broadway . . . Still Here will be a boon to those who revel in hearing about short-lived plays and musicals like Time Of The Barracudas and Goldilocks . . . This biography expertly sketches out the vast other hours of her life, painting a thorough picture of a woman who lived life on her own terms--in an age when it was exceedingly difficult to do so. --Gwen Ihnat, The A.V. Club

Jacobs utilizes the massive cache of information [Stritch] left in her wake, including copious interviews and her archives. This meticulous research allows for the conjuring of a surprising and complex realness that serves as a deep and resounding undercurrent to the public persona so widely known . . . The power of Jacobs' biography is the way she sets Stritch's story against the canvas of a shifting century, allowing us to watch as the world expands beyond these limiting boxes for female performers, and cheer as Stritch was able to expand herself. --Kelly McMasters, Newsday

Alexandra Jacobs's engaging new biography, Still Here, fleshes out our picture of the raspy-voiced actress and singer . . . Written with the cooperation of the estate, clear-eyed affection, and considerable stylistic flair, "Still Here," offers an intimate, somewhat open-ended portrait of Stritch that leaves intact, perhaps inevitably, the mysteries of her personality. --Julia M. Klein, The Boston Globe

So engrossing an exploration of [Elaine Stritch] that to call it a 'biography' feels somehow inadequate . . . Jacobs thankfully leaves no stone unturned, making herself a warm and welcoming guide for strangers to Stritch while also diving with fervor into the moments devotees think they know inside and out. It is a meticulously researched romp, a harrowing excavation, an emotional séance, and a glittering family reunion. --Natalie Walker, Bookforum

The Stritch presented here is a study in contrasts: she came off as a brassy freewheeler, but she was naïve enough to think Rock Hudson had a crush on her; she was a self-described strong woman, yet the women's movement didn't dent her staunch apoliticality . . . This was the key to her long-lasting appeal: she had an uncanny ability to play to an audience. This dishy biography will be a ride for the theatrically inclined as Stritch's 70-year career crosses those of Marlon Brando, Ethel Merman, Noël Coward, Angela Lansbury, Bea Arthur, and, of course, Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim. --Booklist

"One of the more surreal, gratifying, and wonderful experiences of my career was when Elaine Stritch played my mother on 30 Rock. An acting lesson, a therapy session, a chance to know the great La Stritch. This book is your chance." --Alec Baldwin

"Elaine Stritch brought a raw truth to musical theater that had rarely been seen before or since. Her whole self--warts, drinks, and all. In this biography, Alexandra Jacobs shows Stritch's every pore, and we are all better for it." --Sarah Silverman

I laughed. I cried. Alexandra Jacobs lovingly pulls back the curtain on Stritchy, a sacred cow of American showbiz, revealing her to be as talented, reckless, flawed and fabulous as I always hoped she was.
--Simon Doonan, author of Drag and Wacky Chicks

"Alexandra Jacobs's Still Here is a delicious, page-turning, and meticulous romp through the distinctive life of a feminist icon. The talented, urbane, smoking-and-drinking queen of Broadway's tough dames lived a life of accomplishment, boldly frank opinions, and just as bold-faced names that defined the Great White Way (and Hollywood) of recent yore. Elaine Stritch balanced theatrical perfectionism, glamorous Manhattan evenings, and behavioral brinksmanship with the never-quite-dismissed lessons of her Catholic background in the Midwest. I learned as much as I was entertained and left smitten: my idea of a pretty terrific book." --Sheila Weller, New York Times-bestselling author of Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--and the Journey of a Generation and Carrie Fisher: A Life On The Edge