The Josephine Baker Story

by Ean Wood

An in-depth portrait of the legendary entertainer describes Baker's early life, her rise to success in the world of French theater, her work for the Red Cross, her battle against racism, and her difficult final years.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, Music

Hardcover

First published June 22, 2000

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Possibly the worst sentences in the book are the last two, which I will now quote: "She brought a lot of joy and excitement to a lot of people. She was a Star." So yeah, the writing is not stellar. Also, I was completely turned off any interest in Josephine Baker herself based on the awful things she did late in life (go way into debt and have the audacity to get her rich friends to pay them off for her, collect children as if completing a set--here's the black one, here's the Jew, here's the Indian...). That's not the fault of the author, but it made the reading experience less pleasurable. Ean Wood did a fine job chronicling Baker's life, but by the penultimate chapter I was just waiting for her to give up the ghost.

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it was an all right book. Never quite sure how much of her own fiction came into play for actuality and what wasn't entirely. However, it doesn't really matter. A good yarn is a good yarn no matter how it is laid out. The Josephine Baker Story is a good yarn. Mind you it would be well deserved that the role she played in human rights was more publicised than it is. She was a remarkable woman, she lived in extraordinary times, that was a mixture of madness in harshness and exhilaration. The times were violent and cruel and she did well to survive it, in many ways not too dissimilar to now with the Ferguson riots and modern celebrities taking a stance with global issues. There was and is only one Josephine Baker regardless of what story you read or hear.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best of the many Josephine Baker biographies I've read in researching my forthcoming novel about her. However, the author gets her name wrong off the bat -- it wasn't Josephine Freda MacDonald, but Freda Josephine McDonald. Yet Ean Wood has done a fine job of synthesizing the other biographies into a single narrative, complete with exact dates of important events and detailed descriptions of Josephine's shows.

[Jordan Phizacklea-Cullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josephine Baker had a truly fascinating life; from the slums of St. Louis where racist prejudice was a daily reality, working her way up to Broadway in the 1920s perfecting the Charleston, before a chance intervention led her to the lights of Paris and superstardom, working as a secret agent for the French Resistance during WW2 and eventually setting up in a countryside chateau her own 'Rainbow Family' of 12 adopted children of mixed races, nationalities and religions. This whirlwind life is told with a suitable pace and admiration that nevertheless highlights Baker's many personal failings for a suitably rounded biography that will enthrall anyone with even a passing interest in its subject.

[Virginia · Rating 2 out of 5]

While it was good to get an overall view of jazz, music hall revues, and the Folies Bergeres (as well as the Ziegfried shows), this story about Josephine Baker disappoints. Part of it is that the author’s recitation of the many performances was uninspired. And even more discouraging is that I didn’t like Josephine as the book progressed. I had sympathy for the extreme poverty and hardships of her childhood in St Louis during the Jim Crow era, and this undoubtedly was lifelong damaging. But the excesses of her adult life, the rude and inconsiderate ways she often treated others, her self-centeredness, and the high-handed way way she adopted a large brood of children as if they were some of the many animals she accumulated - were unedifying.

[Wilma Reiber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew Josephine Baker when I was a child. She was (and is) my hero. I HAD to read this book. It is interesting and well written, but I missed details and more aspects of her personality. Maybe I read it with wrong expectations.

[Bonni Sweet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really enjoyed the book. I'm not sure how much of it was actually true but if nothing else, the woman wanted to give LOVE.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good biography of Josephine Baker. Unfortunate choice for a book cover.