{"product_id":"bitter-crop-the-heartache-and-triumph-of-billie-holidays-last-year-1","title":"Bitter Crop The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year","description":"\u003ch2 class=\"contributors isbn-related 9780593312520 dsktop-links show\"\u003eBy\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"ws-nw role-A\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/authors\/329\/paul-alexander\"\u003ePaul Alexander\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mobile-about-the-book\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"slot product-about 9780593312520 isbn-related seemoreenable show opened\" id=\"seemore-0\"\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the first biography of Billie Holiday in more than two decades, Paul Alexander—author of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salinger—gives us an unconventional portrait of arguably America’s most eminent jazz singer. He 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring 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,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eBitter Crop\u003c\/em\u003e—a reference to the last two words of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eStrange Fruit\u003c\/em\u003e, her moving song about lynching—limns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House - 394","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49650975834398,"sku":"9780593312520","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0248\/3598\/1393\/files\/md32147713140_1.jpg?v=1741639734","url":"https:\/\/juilliardstore.com\/products\/bitter-crop-the-heartache-and-triumph-of-billie-holidays-last-year-1","provider":"Juilliard Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}