{"product_id":"lady-romeo-the-radical-and-revolutionary-life-of-charlotte-cushman-americas-first-celebrity-9781501199530","title":"Lady Romeo: The Radical and Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America's First Celebrity","description":"\u003cb\u003eFinalist for a Lambda Literary Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eFinalist for the Publishing Triangle's Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eFinalist for the Marfield Prize\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor fans of \u003ci\u003eBook of Ages \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eAmerican Eve\u003c\/i\u003e, this \"lively, illuminating new biography\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e) of 19th-century queer actress Charlotte Cushman portrays a \"brisk, beautifully crafted life\" (Stacy Schiff, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Witches \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eCleopatra\u003c\/i\u003e) that riveted New York City and made headlines across America.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAll her life, Charlotte Cushman refused to submit to others' expectations. Raised in Boston at the time of the transcendentalists, a series of disasters cleared the way for her life on the stage--a path she eagerly took, rejecting marriage and creating a life of adventure, playing the role of the hero in and out of the theater as she traveled to New Orleans and New York City, and eventually to London and back to build a successful career. Her Hamlet, Romeo, Lady Macbeth, and Nancy Sykes from \u003ci\u003eOliver Twist \u003c\/i\u003ebecame canon, impressing Louisa May Alcott, who later based a character on her in \u003ci\u003eJo's Boys\u003c\/i\u003e, and Walt Whitman, who raved about \"the towering grandeur of her genius\" in his columns for the \u003ci\u003eBrooklyn Daily Eagle\u003c\/i\u003e. She acted alongside Edwin and John Wilkes Booth--supposedly giving the latter a scar on his neck that was later used to identify him as President Lincoln's assassin--and visited frequently with the Great Emancipator himself, who was a devoted Shakespeare fan and admirer of Cushman's work. Her wife immortalized her in the angel at the top of Central Park's Bethesda Fountain; worldwide, she was \"a lady universally acknowledged as the greatest living tragic actress.\" Behind the scenes, she was equally radical, making an independent income, supporting her family, creating one of the first bohemian artists' colonies abroad, and living publicly as a queer woman. And yet, her name has since faded into the shadows. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNow, her story comes to brilliant life with Tana Wojczuk's \u003ci\u003eLady Romeo\u003c\/i\u003e, an exhilarating and enlightening biography of the 19th-century trailblazer. With new research and rarely seen letters and documents, Wojczuk reconstructs the formative years of Cushman's life, set against the excitement and drama of 1800s New York City and featuring a cast of luminaries and revolutionaries who changed the cultural landscape of America forever. The story of an astonishing and uniquely American life, \u003ci\u003eLady Romeo \u003c\/i\u003ereveals one of the most remarkable forgotten figures in our history and restores her to center stage, where she belongs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTana Wojczuk is a contributing editor at \u003ci\u003eGuernica\u003c\/i\u003e and teaches writing at New York University. Her work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTin House\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The Believer\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Bomb\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNarrative\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Vice\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. She was a finalist for the\u003ci\u003e Gulf Coast \u003c\/i\u003eNonfiction Prize judged by David Shields, Helene Wurlitzer Foundation fellow, \u003ci\u003eTin House\u003c\/i\u003e Summer Writers Workshop poetry fellow, and research fellow in the New York University Global Scholars program. She received her MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. A Boulder native, she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her first book, \u003ci\u003eLady Romeo: The Radical, Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America's First Celebrity\u003c\/i\u003e was a finalist for the Marfield Prize National Award for Arts Writing, Publishing Triangle award, and a LAMBDA Literary Award.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Avid Reader Press \/ Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50380394070290,"sku":"9781501199530","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_6d5d716d-c0ff-4071-8cea-95dac9dc0208.jpg?v=1728681522","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/lady-romeo-the-radical-and-revolutionary-life-of-charlotte-cushman-americas-first-celebrity-9781501199530","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}