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ByPaul Alexander

In the first biography of Billie Holiday in more than two decades, Paul Alexanderauthor of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salingergives us an unconventional portrait of arguably Americas most eminent jazz singer. He shrewdly focuses on the last year of her lifewith relevant flashbacks to provide contextto evoke and examine the persistent magnificence of Holidays 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 Cropa reference to the last two words ofStrange Fruit, her moving song about lynchinglimns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.