Josephine Baker certainly shook things up. This memoir demonstrates — vividly — the pleasure she took in doing it.”
—The Washington Post
“[A] trailblazing performer and activist’s book… Much of her work still resonates today.”
—People
“This is Josephine Baker's story in her own words… Her voice is very strong in this story, and she is the best kind of person to read about. She is very funny and witty, humble and kind, and extremely eccentric.”
—Kwame Alexander, TODAY
“A rare, intimate picture of Baker emerges in her memoir, Fearless and Free. . . The book peels back the myth to bring readers the high-spirited child who grew up poor on Bernard Street in St. Louis, brought home lost animals and made faces in school.”
—Smithsonian
“Baker’s matchless character propels the reader. She exudes love and life on the page. And that voice! Her younger one, bright, witty, effervescent, and her older one, wiser, angrier, and still so funny. Her storytelling is writerly and precise, with satisfying arcs in a single sentence or a page… A delightful, nourishing read.”
—The Guardian
“Both a close look at one woman’s prolific life and a walk through some of the most pivotal moments of 20th-century history.”
—W Magazine
“Josephine Baker—the nazi-spying, pet-cheetah-owning, banana-skirt-dancing global icon—has written a memoir, and somehow, we are just getting it now... Finally, we English speakers are hearing how she did all that firsthand. It’s about time.”
—Oprah Daily
“[Baker] skips across her life, never dwelling on hardship, with an imaginative joie de vivre that offers a real glimpse of her presence…. She was a beacon of joy and fellowship and her smile…reaches out to us across the years.”
—Financial Times
“As with Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, its joy lies in its distinctive voice… it feels like the closest you are going to come with an audience with the woman… [Baker’s] book leaves you with no doubt about her unique power.”
—The Times
“This is the kind of book that’ll make you search online for videos of its author onstage, and it’ll send you in search for other books about Josephine Baker. Though it doesn’t include enough years, if you love biographies, ‘Fearless and Free’ can’t be beat.”
—The Philadelphia Tribune
“A riveting account of Baker’s life… the reader will come away with a sense that they have just read a diary of a dear friend who is modeling the path to being unapologetically themselves, leading a life of adventure and fulfillment. The reader is sure to be encouraged to follow Baker’s lead and dive headfirst into their own one-of-a-kind future, fearless and free.”
—The New York Journal of Books
“In Fearless and Free, Josephine Baker—groundbreaking performer, audacious spy, and unflinching Civil Rights activist—shares intimate details of her life and times, proving she’s as enthralling on the page as she was on the stage. This gorgeous, captivating gem of a memoir will both introduce Baker to a new generation of readers, and cement her legacy as an enduring international icon.”
—Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author of Eden Undone and Sin in the Second City
“Fearless and Free is a remarkable story of a remarkable woman. Reading Josephine Baker's life in her own words is like having the world's greatest tour guide to pivotal movements in history. The book allowed me to see the Roaring Twenties, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement with fresh eyes. It is everything you hope a memoir could be.”
—Matthew F. Delmont, author of New York Times Notable Book Half American
“While Josephine Baker is likely best known as an iconic and pathbreaking dancer and performer, this fascinating memoir, Fearless and Free, reveals that she was just as accomplished intellectually and strategically as a lieutenant for the French Resistance in World War II and civil rights activist. All the while, she gave her time, energy, and money to those more vulnerable than herself. Born in St. Louis, grown into one of France's greatest entertainers, Baker's story illustrates the ways that Black womanhood and the constant search for freedom fuels unimaginable feats. What an astonishingly beautiful life Josephine Baker lived. I am so grateful that she shared her life, her love, and her story with all of us. This book is a gift.”
—Jenn M. Jackson, PhD, author of Black Women Taught Us
“At long last, we can now immerse ourselves in Josephine Baker’s dazzling world. In between snapshots of her American childhood and European coming-of-age, Baker regales us with chatty asides about friendship, food, fashion, and her unyielding love of animals. Fearless and Free breaks the mold of a memoir; it’s a story about a true original, told in an original fashion.”
—Tamara J. Walker, author of New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Beyond the Shores
“A vivid impression of her ebullient personality, extravagant love for animals, and overflowing generosity.”
—Kirkus
“The memoir captures how Baker thinks and feels (her empathy for suffering people comes up often) and her philosophies of life and performance…This dialogue with Baker revels in her poetic and often humorous way of speaking.”
—Library Journal
01/01/2025
Published in the U.S. for the first time, this memoir captures the experience of talking to Baker (1906–75) more than the experience of being her, leaving her mystery intact. Released in France in 1949, it comprises Baker's side of her dialogue with journalist Marcel Sauvage, who began interviewing her in 1926. Some interviews were initially translated into French and are now retranslated to English, so there are several layers of interpretation between Baker and the page. However, the memoir captures how Baker thinks and feels (her empathy for suffering people comes up often) and her philosophies of life and performance (she says she never rehearses because she's not a machine and finds randomness beautiful). It only lightly covers some experiences that readers would surely like to hear about (such as how Baker came to perform in Manhattan's Plantation Club) but covers others, such as her travels through Europe, in detail. Baker also speaks vividly about working in French intelligence during World War II and being used as a political symbol. VERDICT This dialogue with Baker revels in her poetic and often humorous way of speaking. Pair with Chris Chase and Jean-Claude Baker's authoritative biography Josephine Baker: The Hungry Heart.—Sarah Wolberg
Performing this fascinating memoir, published originally in French in 1929, Belgian actor Jade Wheeler captures the charm and depth of the American singer Josephine Baker, who lived in the U.S. and France. Wheeler performs with the spunk you'd expect from Baker, who enthralled audiences with her seductive personality and talent. In France, she enjoyed an unfiltered, irreverent way of living that was not possible for Black entertainers in the segregated U.S. Baker had a humanitarian streak, too, spying for the French Resistance in WWII, adopting multicultural children to promote integration, and later fighting for civil rights in America. Bookended by Quinten Bruno's reverent delivery of the introduction and afterword, Wheeler's nuanced performance embraces all the pathos, complexity, and joy in this exceptional memoir. T.W. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine
2024-11-09
A freewheeling account of the boundary-smashing entertainer’s first four decades.
First published in 1949, this is less a memoir than a transcription by French journalist Marcel Sauvage (whose original introduction is included) of conversations he had over the course of 15 years with expatriate American sensation Josephine Baker (1906-75). Born in St. Louis, Baker left her impoverished family at 16 and was on Broadway at 17 in the chorus of the landmark Black musicalShuffle Along. Still a teenager, she hit Paris in 1925 and rocketed to fame for her uninhibited dancing; surviving film documents her charisma and acrobatic gyrations. All factual details about her life and career, including multiple marriages and affairs, must be gleaned in passing from Baker’s decidedly impressionistic recollections, which ramble unabashedly to give a vivid impression of her ebullient personality, extravagant love for animals, and overflowing generosity for the world’s unfortunates. Extensive touring in Europe, North Africa, and South America prompted endless protests about her “immorality,” usually fostered by the Catholic Church, but proved a useful cover for her intelligence work for the Free French during World War II. Despite conservative criticisms, Baker felt freer and more accepted in France than she had as a girl in the United States, and she is forthright about her indignation over the racism she encountered on a postwar American visit; she served in the fight against Germany “because of their race policy,” she comments, but “I found it again, more insidious, more hideous, perhaps, among the people who claimed to fight against it,” in the North as well as the South. (Her comments about exploitive Jewish landlords and shop owners in Harlem, though balanced by condemnation of American antisemitism, prompt a nervous disclaimer in this volume’s foreword.) The book closes with verbal snapshots of her many famous friends.
Baker’s charmingly scattershot reminiscences flag the need for a full-scale biography of this remarkable woman.
