Bitter Crop : The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year

A revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon In the first biography of Billie Holiday in more than two decades, Paul Alexander?uthor of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salinger?ives us an unconventional portrait of arguably America? most eminent jazz singer. He shrewdly focuses on the last year of her life?ith relevant flashbacks to provide context?o evoke and examine the persistent magnificence of Holiday? 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. During her lifetime and after her death, Billie Holiday was often depicted as a down-on-her-luck junkie severely lacking in self-esteem. Relying on interviews with people who knew her, and new material unearthed in private collections and institutional archives, Bitter Crop? reference to the last two words of Strange Fruit, her moving song about lynching?imns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.

Author: Paul Alexander

Publisher: Knopf

Publication Date: Feb 13, 2024

Number of Pages: 369 pages

Language: English

Binding: Hardcover

ISBN-10: 0593315901

ISBN-13: 9780593315903