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Bitter Crop

The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year
By Paul Alexander
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Brief Description
'Paul Alexander tells her story in a way that could put her soul and our questions to rest' Gloria Steinem Bitter Crop shows just what lay behind that tragic, transcendent gift' Sunday Times 'Magnificent' Irish Times Bitter Crop is an unconventional portrait of arguably America's most... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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A revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon

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'Paul Alexander tells her story in a way that could put her soul and our questions to rest' Gloria Steinem

Bitter Crop shows just what lay behind that tragic, transcendent gift' Sunday Times

'Magnificent' Irish Times

Bitter Crop is an unconventional portrait of arguably America's most eminent jazz singer. Acclaimed biographer Paul Alexander 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.

Relying on interviews with people who knew her and new material unearthed in private collections and institutional archives, Bitter Crop limns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781837262434

Publisher: Canongate Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 13 March 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Canongate Books

Edition: Main

Illustration: B&W photos throughout

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 253g

Pages: 368

Collections

Arts & Culture Biography & Memoir Music & Musicians Musicians, Movie Stars & Creative Biographies Non-Fiction Paul Alexander

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 the documentary Salinger that appeared 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.

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  • Bitter Crop
    Bitter Crop is an unconventional portrait of arguably America's most eminent jazz singer. Acclaimed biographer Paul Alexander 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,...
    By Paul Alexander
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