American Diva: Extraordinary, Unruly, Fabulous
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 juvenilizing of its meaning but finding its lasting beauty and power.
Filled with sharp insights and great heart, American Diva is a spirited tribute to the power of performance and the joys of fandom.
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In ten exquisitely crafted chapters, Deborah Paredez shows us how divas as diverse as her aunt Lucia, Rita Moreno, Aretha Franklin, and many others define our limitations and our aspirations as individuals, a nation, and a people--brown, Black, and queer. Too big, bold, beautiful, and messy to be confined within enclosures or by borders, they lead us somewhere outside, to the edge, through the abyss, to that transcendent space where we might experience something akin to freedom. Here is a book as ambitious, original, and beautiful as its subject.--Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of Read Until You Understand
Equal parts memoir, cultural criticism, and music history, Deborah Paredez's eloquent and thought-provoking exploration of divadom radiates with the passion, color, and magnetism of the divas she adores.--Holly George-Warren, author of Janis: Her Life and Music
Is it possible to breathe life into the slack mouth of a term that's been both overused and misunderstood nearly since it became common two hundred years ago? Deborah Paredez proves it is. As Paredez expands the diva definition, she presents a new vision of American culture that is, in true diva fashion, multifaceted and brazenly alive.--Ann Powers, author of Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell
A poet's tribute to divas...A close, personal, well-informed examination of powerful women and their artistic work.-- "Kirkus Reviews"
With American Diva, [Paredez] has put together an insightful ode to the famous women...who have come to embody the often misconstrued term.--Shannon Carlin "Time"
Paredez weaves historical accounts of these bold women into a thrilling cultural memoir....By the book's end, Paredez's thesis becomes entirely persuasive: The word "diva" is best used not for an opera virtuoso, but for any bold person whose work nourishes people who are too often starved of power.--Brandon Tensley "Smithsonian Magazine"
Part memoir and part diva cultural history, Deborah Paredez's latest book blew me away.--Karla J. Strand "Ms. Magazine"
