A01=Deborah Paredez
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
aretha franklin
Author_Deborah Paredez
automatic-update
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=AB
Category=AT
Category=AVC
Category=BGF
Category=DNBF
celia cruz
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_music
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
feminist history
iconic women
Language_English
PA=Available
pop culture gods
pop culture queens
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
rita moreno
softlaunch
tina turner
women in pop culture
womens biographies
womens history
Product details
- ISBN 9781324035305
- Weight: 439g
- Dimensions: 160 x 236mm
- Publication Date: 21 May 2024
- Publisher: WW Norton & Co
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
What does it mean to be a “diva”? A shifting, increasingly loaded term, it has been used to both deride and celebrate charismatic and unapologetically fierce performers like Aretha Franklin, Divine and the women of Labelle. In this brilliant, powerful blend of incisive criticism and electric memoir, Deborah Paredez—scholar, cultural critic and lifelong diva devotee—unravels our enduring fascination with these icons and explores how divas have challenged American ideas about feminism, performance and freedom.
American Diva journeys into Tina Turner’s scintillating performances, Celia Cruz’s command of the male-dominated salsa world, the transcendent revival of Jomama Jones after a period of exile and the unparalleled excellence of Venus and Serena Williams. Recounting how she and her mother endlessly watched Rita Moreno’s powerhouse portrayal of Anita in West Side Story and how she learned much about being bigger than life from her fabulous Tía Lucia, Paredez chronicles the celebrated and skilled performers who not only shaped her life but boldly expressed the aspiration for freedom among brown, Black and gay communities. Paredez also traces the evolution of the diva through the decades, dismayed at the mid-aughts’ commodification and juvenilising of its meaning but finding its lasting beauty and power.
Deborah Paredez is the chair of the Writing Program at Columbia University. The author of Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory and two poetry collections, she lives in New York.
