Includes bibliographical references and index.

Josephine Baker once told Jean-Claude Baker that after she died he would discover the truth about her. Now, after two decades of exhaustive worldwide research, he has done just that, but the truth turns out to be much more fascinating - and shocking - than the legends that have attached themselves to her. Here's the neglected child starving for attention in the slums of St. Louis, the uninhibited chorus girl who shamelessly stole the spotlight from the stars - and became the sensation of Europe. Josephine was the self-proclaimed Universal Mother, who gathered children from many countries, the expatriate who was erratic about the civil rights movement, and the outrageous entertainer who dared to become the first black sex symbol of this century. Jean-Claude Baker collected the voices of men and women who, over the decades, shared the stage with Josephine. Here are the tales of the great impresarios and showmen who toasted her name from Paris to Rio, of her friends, her enemies, her servants, her lovers, and her family. Though she never knew her father, she always claimed to be of mixed racial heritage. She was a secret agent; she was kept by princes and sultans. She hated being black and never forgave white people for what they had done to her race. In this rich and evocative biography, spiced with never-before-revealed facts and anecdotes, Josephine Baker comes to life again. Through the monumental efforts of a man who has devoted a good part of his life to her memory, we see, at last, the complex woman who was one of our century's most captivating celebrities - the one who broke all the rules.

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