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A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
Random House
January 2011
On Sale: December 28, 2010
448 pages ISBN: 1400066913 EAN: 9781400066919 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
With the critically acclaimed Sin in the Second City,
bestselling author Karen Abbott “pioneered sizzle history”
(USA Today). Now she returns with the gripping and expansive
story of America’s coming-of-age—told through the
extraordinary life of Gypsy Rose Lee and the world she
survived and conquered. America in the Roaring Twenties. Vaudeville was king.
Talking pictures were only a distant flicker. Speakeasies
beckoned beyond dimly lit doorways; money flowed fast and
free. But then, almost overnight, the Great Depression
leveled everything. When the dust settled, Americans were
primed for a star who could distract them from grim reality
and excite them in new, unexpected ways. Enter Gypsy Rose
Lee, a strutting, bawdy, erudite stripper who possessed a
preternatural gift for delivering exactly what America needed. With her superb narrative skills and eye for compelling
detail, Karen Abbott brings to vivid life an era of
ambition, glamour, struggle, and survival. Using exclusive
interviews and never-before-published material, she vividly
delves into Gypsy’s world, including her intensely dramatic
triangle relationship with her sister, actress June Havoc,
and their formidable mother, Rose, a petite but ferocious
woman who seduced men and women alike and literally killed
to get her daughters on the stage. American Rose chronicles their story, as well as the story
of the four scrappy and savvy showbiz brothers from New York
City who would pave the way for Gypsy Rose Lee’s brand of
burlesque. Modeling their shows after the glitzy, daring
reviews staged in the theaters of Paris, the Minsky brothers
relied on grit, determination, and a few tricks that fell
just outside the law—and they would shape, and ultimately
transform, the landscape of American entertainment. With a supporting cast of such Jazz- and Depression-era
heavyweights as Lucky Luciano, Harry Houdini, FDR, and Fanny
Brice, Karen Abbott weaves a rich narrative of a woman who
defied all odds to become a legend—and whose sensational
tale of tragedy and triumph embodies the American Dream.
Comments
1 comment posted.
Re: American Rose
All I know about Gypsy Rose Lee is that she was a stripper; it will be interesting to find out what else she was and what her world was like at that time. (Karen Cherubino 10:13am February 21, 2011)
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