Fearless and Free
A Memoir
Published on 6. February 2025
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-78487-834-4 (ISBN)
Description
Immerse yourself in joy and glamour: this is the dazzling Josephine Baker in her own words.
'She was a beacon of joy and fellowship and her smile...reaches out to us across the years' Financial Times
'A delightful, nourishing read' Guardian
'Josephine Baker certainly shook things up. This memoir demonstrates - vividly - the pleasure she took in doing it' Washington Post
Funny, candid and unconventional: the wildly famous but elusive Josephine Baker tells her own story in this enchanting memoir. Baker took Paris by storm in the 1920s, dazzling audiences with her humour, beauty and effervescence on stage. She became an icon. Hemingway, Cocteau and Picasso admired her; Shirley Bassey adored her. It was said she strolled the streets of Paris with her pet cheetah who wore a diamond collar.
Later, as one of the most recognisable women in the world, she became a spy for the French resistance, her celebrity working as her cover. She was awarded the Legion d'honneur for military service. After the war she became increasingly interested in civil rights, and in 1963 she spoke at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King. All this from a girl of mixed heritage, born in Missouri to a poor mother and a father she did not know.
Formed from a series of conversations with the French journalist Marcel Sauvage over a period of more than twenty years, and now translated into English for the first time, this gorgeous book offers an insight into one of the most beguiling figures of the twentieth century.
'The most sensational woman anyone ever saw' Ernest Hemingway
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY IJEOMA OLUO
TRANSLATED BY ANAM ZAFAR AND SOPHIE LEWIS
'She was a beacon of joy and fellowship and her smile...reaches out to us across the years' Financial Times
'A delightful, nourishing read' Guardian
'Josephine Baker certainly shook things up. This memoir demonstrates - vividly - the pleasure she took in doing it' Washington Post
Funny, candid and unconventional: the wildly famous but elusive Josephine Baker tells her own story in this enchanting memoir. Baker took Paris by storm in the 1920s, dazzling audiences with her humour, beauty and effervescence on stage. She became an icon. Hemingway, Cocteau and Picasso admired her; Shirley Bassey adored her. It was said she strolled the streets of Paris with her pet cheetah who wore a diamond collar.
Later, as one of the most recognisable women in the world, she became a spy for the French resistance, her celebrity working as her cover. She was awarded the Legion d'honneur for military service. After the war she became increasingly interested in civil rights, and in 1963 she spoke at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King. All this from a girl of mixed heritage, born in Missouri to a poor mother and a father she did not know.
Formed from a series of conversations with the French journalist Marcel Sauvage over a period of more than twenty years, and now translated into English for the first time, this gorgeous book offers an insight into one of the most beguiling figures of the twentieth century.
'The most sensational woman anyone ever saw' Ernest Hemingway
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY IJEOMA OLUO
TRANSLATED BY ANAM ZAFAR AND SOPHIE LEWIS
Reviews / Votes
Translated gorgeously into English... [Baker's] storytelling is writerly and precise, with satisfying arcs in a single sentence or a page... a delightful, nourishing read * Guardian * [Baker] skips across her life, never dwelling on hardship, with an imaginative joie de vivre that offers a real glimpse of her presence.... She was a beacon of joy and fellowship and her smile...reaches out to us across the years * Financial Times * As with Bob Dylan's Chronicles, its joy lies in its distinctive voice... it feels like the closest you are going to come with an audio with the woman... Baker was no saint, but this book leaves you with no doubt about her unique power * The Times * Josephine Baker certainly shook things up. This memoir demonstrates - vividly - the pleasure she took in doing it * Washington Post * A vivid impression of her ebullient personality, extravagant love for animals, and overflowing generosity * Kirkus * 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 [Fearless and Free] is lively and humorous, at once candid and reticent... [it] paint[s] an engaging picture of the early world of light entertainment and of the movements against racism that swept the world in the 1950s and 1960s * Times Literary Supplement *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
394 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78487-834-4 (9781784878344)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Josephine Baker (Author)
Josephine Baker was born in 1906, in St Louis, Missouri. After performing in New York during the Harlem Renaissance as a teenager, she sailed to Paris in 1925 at the age of 19. She became a star there during the 20s, achieving international celebrity. In 1927 she became the first black woman to star in a major motion picture.
When the Second World War broke out Baker joined the French intelligence agency and was awarded for her bravery. During the 50s and 60s she became involved in the civil rights movement - in 1963 she spoke at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King. In later life she adopted twelve children. Baker died in 1975.
Anam Zafar (Translator)
Anam Zafar is a UK-based translator from Arabic and French to English. She is the winner of a PEN Translates award, the Gulf Coast Prize in Translation and the Stinging Fly New Translator's Bursary.
Sophie Lewis (Translator)
Sophie Lewis translates from French and Portuguese. She has translated books by Stendhal, Marcel Ayme, Violette Leduc, Leila Slimani, Noemi Lefebvre and Nastassja Martin, as well as Patricia Melo, Victor Heringer and Sheyla Smanioto.
Josephine Baker was born in 1906, in St Louis, Missouri. After performing in New York during the Harlem Renaissance as a teenager, she sailed to Paris in 1925 at the age of 19. She became a star there during the 20s, achieving international celebrity. In 1927 she became the first black woman to star in a major motion picture.
When the Second World War broke out Baker joined the French intelligence agency and was awarded for her bravery. During the 50s and 60s she became involved in the civil rights movement - in 1963 she spoke at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King. In later life she adopted twelve children. Baker died in 1975.
Anam Zafar (Translator)
Anam Zafar is a UK-based translator from Arabic and French to English. She is the winner of a PEN Translates award, the Gulf Coast Prize in Translation and the Stinging Fly New Translator's Bursary.
Sophie Lewis (Translator)
Sophie Lewis translates from French and Portuguese. She has translated books by Stendhal, Marcel Ayme, Violette Leduc, Leila Slimani, Noemi Lefebvre and Nastassja Martin, as well as Patricia Melo, Victor Heringer and Sheyla Smanioto.