Josephine Baker and the Rainbow Tribe

Review by Choice Review

Guterl (Africana and American studies, Brown Univ.) has written a fascinating account of one of the least documented aspects of the life of singer and dancer Josephine Baker (1906-75). From 1953 through 1964, Baker adopted 12 children from various countries and created a home in a 15th-century French chateau for what she termed her "Rainbow Tribe." Eventually, Baker charged admission to tourists who wished to see the children sing and play in the family home. Baker's efforts were politically motivated; she asserted that children of different colors, nations, and backgrounds could live in harmony. Baker was undoubtedly motivated by the burgeoning US civil rights movement and the breakup of colonialism after WW II. Her goals were ambitious, but the results were not so positive. Baker's adoptive children's names were changed, their cultural traditions were disregarded, and their previous lives were altered to reflect Baker's view of a utopian world. In essence, the children who made up the "Rainbow Tribe" lost their individual identities for the collective good. As the children grew older and moved on, their lives were marked by constant upheaval and, in some cases, dire consequences. Although this is a difficult book to read, it is one that should be read. --Michael D. Whitlatch, Buena Vista University

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Booklist Review

A few pages into the finely worded, deeply evocative prologue, Guterl asks readers to set aside everything they know about Josephine Baker but it's too late, for Guterl has already begun what almost seems a fabulous fairy tale, one commandingly, colorfully told by a masterful contemporary storyteller. Rarely does an author's voice come across as audibly as Guterl's, in cadence and sometimes in directives to the reader, and the effect is enchanting Baker's story, even more so. Years after chanteuse-dancer Baker's soaring star fell, she rose once more, this time as a relentless civil rights advocate and the adoptive mother of 12 multiracial children, the Rainbow Tribe, whom she then raised and paraded in a theme-park-type castle, Les Milandes, in the French countryside. Here, Guterl winnows out a truth from the many fragments (in biographies, in the press, from the children themselves), positing that it was an inspirational, exaggerated symbol of what was possible at the extreme end of wealth and fame, globally speaking, for anyone and everyone, no matter their skin tone or racial classification. A fascinating book about a magnificent woman.--Kinney, Eloise Copyright 2014 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Library Journal Review

A current trend in biography is that of the "partial life" or "event" biography, in which a single era or occasion becomes the focus rather than the subject's entire history. Guterl (Africana studies, American studies, Brown Univ.; Seeing Race in Modern America) builds on this theme with his focus on American-born French singer and actress Josephine Baker's second reinvention. The persona with which Baker (1906-75) captivated the world had already been retooled once by her manager Giuseppe Pepito Abatino. Following World War II, Baker transformed herself again, this time into a universal mother presiding over a dozen children of every race on permanent display at her castle in France's Dordogne. The book is scholarly in tone and presumes a certain level of prior knowledge (especially about French history and politics), but the story is rendered compellingly enough to draw in the casual reader in spite of the author's style. Verdict This work will be enjoyed by all readers and is recommended for libraries where there is an interest in large or adopted families, civil rights history, or Jazz Age nostalgia.-Jenny Brewer, Helen Hall Lib., League City, TX (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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