Biographer\, Paul Alexander will discuss h is book Bitter Crop:The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday&rsquo\ ;s Last Year with a moderator\, answer questions from the audience\, and sign copies of the book. Register for your seat and learn more about t he author and book below.
\nThis program is sponsored by the DC Publ ic Library Foundation and the Anacostia Community Museum. Select copies of Bitter Crop:The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday&rsquo\;s Last Year \;will be gifted to attendees while supplies last. \;\n
A revelatory look at the tumultuou s life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon
\nIn the first bi ography of Billie Holiday in more than two decades\, Paul Alexander&mdash\ ;author of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salinger&mdash\;gives us an unconventional portrait of arguably America&rsquo\;s most eminent ja zz singer. He shrewdly focuses on the last year of her life&mdash\;with re levant flashbacks to provide context&mdash\;to evoke and examine the persi stent magnificence of Holiday&rsquo\;s artistry when it was supposed to ha ve declined\, in the wake of her drug abuse\, relationships with violent m en\, and run-ins with the law.
\nDuring her lifetime and after her d eath\, Billie Holiday was often depicted as a down-on-her-luck junkie seve rely lacking in self-esteem. Relying on interviews with people who knew he r\, and new material unearthed in private collections and institutional ar chives\, \;Bitter Crop&mdash\;a reference to the last two words of&nbs p\;Strange Fruit\, her moving song about lynching&mdash\;limns Holiday as a powerful\, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.
\nA talented biographer paints a m emorable portrait of an American master.
\n\n
Paul Alexander has p
ublished eight books\, among them \;Rough Magic\, a biography of Sylvi
a Plath\, and \;Salinger\, a biography of J. D. Salinger that was the
basis of a documentary that appeared on \;American Masters \;on PB
S\, Netflix\, and HBO. His nonfiction has appeared in numerous publication
s\, including \;The New York Times\, Los Angeles Times\, The Boston Gl
obe\, Newsday\, New York\, The Guardian\, The Nation\, The Washington Post
\, and \;Rolling Stone. He teaches at Hunter College in New York.
Alexander\, the author of biographies of J.D. Salinger\, Sylvia Plath\ , and John McCain\, revisits the story of the brilliant jazz singer Billie Holiday (1915-1959)\, concentrating on the final year of her life\, which almost perfectly encapsulated the spirit of her turbulent success\, ambit ion\, and significant struggles with romantic relationships\, alcohol\, an d drugs. Readers familiar with jazz will instantly recognize the title&rsq uo\;s reference to Holiday&rsquo\;s most recognizable song\, &ldquo\;Stran ge Fruit\,&rdquo\; the poignant anti-lynching anthem that met with mixed r eviews from white audiences and warnings from the federal government again st its performance. Alexander&rsquo\;s evocative prose seamlessly compleme nts the painstaking research that he conducted via interviews with contemp oraries of Holiday\, his thorough archival mining\, and his use of never-b efore-seen material from private collections to distinguish the fact\, fic tion\, and embellishment about Holiday&rsquo\;s life that has been dissemi nated by music critics\, early biographers\, and Holiday herself. Though A lexander demonstrates an impressive knowledge of jazz\, this book is not e xclusively for music aficionados. He tells Holiday&rsquo\;s story while de livering a cogent social history of America in the first half of the 20th century. The author incorporates published reviews of Holiday&rsquo\;s per formances\, interviews she gave\, and wonderfully composed vignettes of TV \, radio\, and recording performances\, particularly the session that prod uced what Holiday considered her finest album and life metaphor\, \;La dy in Satin \;(1958). That album &ldquo\;would come to represent a fin al capstone in a life that was defined by personal heartbreak eclipsed by a level of artistic achievement rarely witnessed in the world of popular m usic.&rdquo\; Alexander demonstrates why&mdash\;despite the disappointment s\, broken dreams and relationships\, and personal failings&mdash\;Holiday believed her life to be a triumph. He has written a tale as unique as Hol iday&rsquo\;s voice and\, more importantly\, given voice to the life of an American original.
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