Hero of the two worlds7/1/2023 ![]() Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. ![]() “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. His lack of personal ambition was unaccompanied by proficiency in France’s cutthroat politics, so his influence never matched his popularity.Īn outstanding account of an almost impossibly eventful life.Ī former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.ĭiscovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. Popular histories extol his abolitionism, but this developed later he had no objection to slavery while serving under Washington. More energetic than intelligent, he was not ahead of his time. Duncan displays impressive skill in keeping his Lafayette an admirable figure despite painful limitations. He opposed the Bourbons’ increasingly reactionary policies and supported the 1830 revolution that placed Louis-Philippe on the throne, but Lafayette found him a disappointment. Although freed by Napoleon, Lafayette disapproved of the military leader’s autocracy and retired from politics-until the monarchy’s restoration in 1814, when he again became a voice for liberal ideals. When the Terror began in 1792, he fled to Austrian territory to escape arrest but was treated as a dangerous revolutionary and imprisoned for five years. As commander general of the National Guard, he was a leading figure early in the French Revolution. Only 24 when the British surrendered, Lafayette returned to France to participate in efforts to reform the crumbling French economy. Duncan tells this story in the first third of the book. Lafayette became a trusted lieutenant who fought the British, lobbied French leaders to support the rebellion, and entered the pantheon of Revolutionary heroes. ![]() Anxious to smite France’s traditional enemy or simply find work, many Frenchmen did the same, but Lafayette didn’t exaggerate his military experience and made no demands on George Washington, who was charmed. Among the richest men in France, Lafayette sailed to America in 1777 at age 19 to join the rebellion, seeking mostly adventure. ![]() Instead, he loomed large on the world stage for decades after the war, and history podcaster Duncan does a fine job of filling out his subject’s life. The Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) did not fade away after the American Revolution. A new biography of the giant of both European and American history. ![]()
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