Josephine Baker's secret war The African American star who fought for France and freedom

This chock-full-of-detail biography from historian Diamond (Fleeing Hitler) zooms in on the famed singer and dancer's "wartime contribution" during WWII. Josephine Baker was a French citizen by marriage and had a "visceral" attachment to France, which led her to decide--rare for Black Americans--to stay in France when war broke out. Before long, the French head of counterespionage, Capt. Jacques Abtey, realized that Baker had potential as a spy; her "star power allowed her access to places and... individuals that could prove very helpful." The two traveled to Vichy North Africa, where they stayed for most of the war. Diamond walks readers through what is known of Baker's counterintelligence work, but those hoping for juicy tales of espionage will be disappointed; Baker's spy record is patchy at best. Often, Diamond is forced to admit that certain intriguing possibilities--like that Baker's convalescent bedroom in a clinic in Casablanca played double duty as a meeting place for spies--may or may not have happened, as "the evidence base does not conclusively support" the narrative given by Baker and Abtey. Instead, the book's most rewarding aspect is Diamond's portrait of Baker as a quick-thinking, hard-working, game-for-anything entertainer, who used ambulance lights as spotlights and a circle of soldiers as a dressing room. WWII buffs and Baker fans will find much to pique their interest. (May)

The fearless war work of a storied entertainer. Diamond, a professor of French history, recounts the career of Josephine Baker (1906-75), focusing on her work as a spy for the French Secret Service during World War II. Baker had become a French citizen in 1937, after marrying a Jewish broker; although they later amicably divorced, she felt close to him and his family, and, especially after the rise of Nazism, considered herself a French patriot and fervent Gaullist, eager to contribute to the war effort. Recruited by Jacques Abtey, deputy head of German military counterespionage, she hardly fit the image of an "inconspicuous spy," and at first Abtey wondered if she could be reliable. He discovered, though, that as part of a network charged with identifying German agents within France, her celebrity was a useful cover in collecting and transmitting intelligence. After Germany's incursion into France, Baker fled to her chateau in the Dordogne, outside of the area of German occupation, where she continued her espionage work. Throughout the war, she also continued to work as an entertainer. Without pay, she performed for Allied troops in North Africa and the Middle East, boosting morale and conveying what she hoped was a message of racial tolerance at a time when Blacks and Jews were increasingly vulnerable. Under the pretext of arranging a South American tour, she managed to bring Abtey, traveling under false identity as her secretary, to Portugal, where he passed on intelligence dossiers to British agents. Although both had hoped to secure passage to England to join Charles de Gaulle's resistance efforts, the woman whom the British saw as the "pet lady agent" of the Free French was asked to return to France. In 1961, Baker was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, and in 2021 her ashes were transferred to Paris' hallowed Panthéon. A stirring history informed by deep research. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.