{"product_id":"bitter-crop-the-heartache-and-triumph-of-billie-h","title":"Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie H","description":"\u003cb\u003eA revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA book written as only one artist could view another, with insight and sincere compassion. --Sandra Cisneros, best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eWoman Without Shame\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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, \u003ci\u003eBitter Crop\u003c\/i\u003e--a reference to the last two words of \u003ci\u003eStrange Fruit\u003c\/i\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.","brand":"Phoenix Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46609444044969,"sku":"PHBK-9780593312520","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/9899\/1785\/files\/content_bd0bf400-3dc5-4c10-b44b-0a59b60cb469.jpg?v=1764701285","url":"https:\/\/myti.com\/products\/bitter-crop-the-heartache-and-triumph-of-billie-h","provider":"Myti","version":"1.0","type":"link"}