Whenever stripper Gypsy Rose Lee encountered public criticism, she spoke frankly in her own defense. Frankel's lively biography examines the struggles Lee faced in making a lucrative and unconventional career for herself while maintaining a sense of dignity and social value. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Frankel (Freedom's Women: Black Women and Families in Civil War Era Mississippi) brings burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee to life in all her complexity in this absorbing account of Gypsy's career in burlesque, film, television, and writing. She was a woman full of contradictions who loved to keep the public guessing at what she would do next, and Frankel explores how she used her intelligence, wit, and keen sense of her audience's desires to take them to the edge yet still leave them wanting more. Verdict: This entertaining chronicle will appeal primarily to those interested in musicals, dance history, and burlesque, as well as readers who enjoy biographies exploring complicated personalities. Another recently published biography on Gypsy's life, Rachel's Shteir's Gypsy: The Art of the Tease, is also a worthy read.-Troy Reed, Southeast Regional Lib., Maricopa Cty. Lib. Dist., AZ Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Because Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, in 1911) seldom told her personal story the same way twice, this biography presents new insight into her life. It also offers insights into US life during the Depression, WW II, and the blacklist era, and into vaudeville, burlesque, film, and television. This much we know from Lee's autobiography, Gypsy (1957), and from the eponymous musical inspired by that book: after touring in vaudeville as a child with her sister, Lee emerged as a burlesque star with a unique act in which she parodied what she was doing. Examining the tension this public person experienced in trying to lead a private life, Frankel (American Historical Association) reveals much more. For example, that Lee's mother Rose, the actual star of the musical Gyspy, was not just a pushy stage mother but also a tormented, probably psychotic woman who throughout her life harassed her daughter; and that Lee's activity as a union organizer in the early days of television and as a supporter of liberal causes led to the compromise of her career in the blacklist era. Including photographs and notes, this volume will interest students of popular culture, 20th-century US history, and the evolution of the media. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. R. Sugarman Southern Vermont College From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Introduction
Getting Started (1911-28)
2 The Burlesque Stage (1920-1931)
3 Sophisticated Stripper (1933-1936)
4 Follies with Girlfriends (1936-1937)
5 To Hell with Louise Hovick (1937-1938)
6 Failure as a Dutiful Wife (1937-1939)
7 Rarely a Dutiful Daughter (1936-1943)
8 Finding the Body (1940-1943)
9 Cultured Stripper (1933-1943)
10 Stripping for Social Causes (1937-1944)
11 World's Fair Stripper (1940-1941)
12 The Naked Genius (1942-1943)
13 Motherhood (1944-1948)
14 On the Carnival Circuit (1949)
15 Nothing to Conceal (1950)
16 Strip Around the World (1950-1954)
17 Back Home (1952-1956)
18 Immorality in Book and Song (1957-1962)
19 The Most Famous Former Stripper in the World (1956-1960)
20 Aging Gracefully in Public (1961-1970)
21 Reconciliation (!967-1970)
Epilogue: Gone Fishing

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.