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(More customer reviews)The Fosters have done it again! An unputdownable biography of a Victorian era icon, Adah Isaacs Menken. The prose races ahead like a thriller, yet is filled with finely-researched details. This vivid portrait captures the essence of a true Bohemian who died at the height of her fame, like Marilyn Monroe, and packed several lifetimes into her 33 years on Earth. She had five husbands, including a world-champion boxer who abandoned her with his child, gained fame as the "naked lady," although she wore a body stocking, inspired a Sherlock Holmes story, "Scandal in Bohemia," wrote poetry, and hobnobbed with such luminaries as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Alexander Dumas, and Longfellow. She was acclaimed as an actress, and vilified for daring to smoke in public, wear men's clothes, and gamble the night away. Michael and Barbara Foster have brought back to life this remarkable woman ahead of her time. I found the biography informative, absorbing, and very entertaining. Highly recommended.
Click Here to see more reviews about: A Dangerous Woman: The Life, Loves, and Scandals of Adah Isaacs Menken, 1835-1868, America's Original Superstar
The definitive biography of a trailblazing actress who entertained-and shocked-the nation and the worldMarilyn Monroe might never have become the legend she did without America's original tragic starlet: actress and poet Adah Isaacs Menken (1835–68). In a century remembered for Victorian restraint, Menken's modern flair for action, scandal, and unpopular causes-especially that of the Jewish people-revolutionized show business. On stage, she was the first actress to bare all. Off stage, she originated the front-page scandal and became the world's most highly paid actress-celebrated on Broadway, as well as in San Francisco, London, and Paris. At thirty-three, she mysteriously died. A Dangerous Woman is the first book to tell Menken's fascinating story. Born in New Orleans to a "kept woman of color" and to a father whose identity is debated, Menken eventually moved to the Midwest, where she became an outspoken protégé of the rabbi who founded Reform Judaism. In New York City, she became Walt Whitman's disciple. During the Civil War she was arrested as a Confederate agent-and became America's first pin-up superstar. Menken married and left five husbands. Ultimately, she paid dearly for success. A major biography of a remarkable woman, A Dangerous Woman is must reading for those interested in women's history, the roots of modern-day American Judaism, and African-American history.
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