Agent Josephine

May 2, 2022
After fleeing the poverty and racism of St. Louis, Mo., to seek fame and fortune in Europe, Josephine Baker (1906–1975) gave “the greatest performance of her life” as a WWII spy, according to this scintillating biography. Historian Lewis (Churchill’s Band of Brothers) draws on newly discovered letters and diaries to paint a vivid portrait of Baker as “a chameleon, a rebel, a warrior, and a rule-breaker at heart.” Recruited by French intelligence officials in 1939, Baker’s first assignment was to befriend an attaché at the Italian embassy in Paris and find out if Mussolini planned to form an alliance with Hitler. She also helped determine Japan’s wartime intentions, identified Abwehr agents in Paris, and ferried classified intelligence—written in invisible ink on musical scores—across enemy lines. In addition to her espionage work, Baker flew aid missions to refugees and entertained U.S. troops and dignitaries at the Liberty Club in Casablanca. Lewis stuffs the narrative with intriguing digressions about wartime intelligence activities, including a U.S. plan to help the Mafia smuggle cigarettes into Morocco in exchange for intelligence, and vividly evokes the “intense and tumultuous affair” between Baker and her chief handler, Jacques Abtey. The result is a thrilling espionage story perfect for fans of Lynne Olson’s Madame Fourcade’s Secret War.

June 1, 2022

Josephine Baker moved from St. Louis to France in the early 1920s and quickly became a highly successful entertainer, renowned for her costumes and energetic performances. Lewis's (Operation Relentless) biography captures another facet of Baker: her role as a spy for the Allied Forces during World War II. How does a world-famous Black celebrity become a successful intelligence agent? By hiding in plain sight, Lewis argues. Having grown up in American segregation, Baker understood discrimination and instinctively recognized Nazism as an insidious evil. While performing throughout the war, often for British and American troops, Baker worked with her road manager/companion Jacques Abtey to gather intelligence for the Allied Forces, often risking their lives in treacherous settings. Even when gravely ill and confined to a clinic in Casablanca, Baker turned her hospital room into a conduit of information. She and Abtey later earned accolades for their wartime service. VERDICT An extensive, well-researched tribute to Baker's bravery; will appeal to any fan of biographies of outstanding women.--Penelope J.M. Klein

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2022
A breathless, sympathetic chronicle of the wartime exploits of Josephine Baker (1906-1975). Rather than crafting a conventional biography, Lewis concentrates on the wartime years, creating a heroic portrait of the selfless, brave, somewhat reckless, pioneering, unswervingly patriotic spy for the Allies who was active even before the Nazi occupation of Paris, where she lived and worked. In a suspenseful, serpentine narrative, the author piles on the detail about Britain's Secret Intelligence Service in France, an agency that worked closely with the Deuxi�me Bureau, France's counterespionage service. All were locked in an intelligence battle with the Abwehr, "Nazi Germany's much expanded intelligence service," which "sought to overwhelm and subvert her enemies." Baker, who had been performing in Paris since the early 1920s--after fleeing her impoverished Jim Crow youth in St. Louis and experiencing further hardship in New York City--was running her own club, Chez Josephine, and hobnobbing with admirers of all nationalities. Due to her line of work, she was effective in feeling out the allegiances of significant figures from Italy, Japan, and Spain without raising suspicion. Baker's Deuxi�me Bureau supervisor, Capt. Jacques Abtey, also became her lover. "Theirs would prove an intense and tumultuous affair," writes Lewis, "but one with a special magic all of its own." After being forced to retreat during the occupation, they worked in various remote locales and slipped effortlessly across national borders. Lewis shows readers how Baker's difficult life experiences served her well as an agent. "Josephine had never once had it easy," he writes. "At every stage she had had to fight, to graft and to work unbelievably hard to get ahead. Josephine was blessed with a core of steely fortitude--an unbreakable spirit that was hard wired into her soul." The author also explores how her wartime work profoundly affected the rest of her life, imperiling her health but also setting her on the postwar course of civil rights activism. A complex, entertaining story of intrigue and sangfroid involving a beloved, courageous hero.

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Starred review from June 1, 2022
One of the greatest and most successful women in espionage was legendary African American entertainer Josephine Baker, who used her charm, intelligence, and sheer bravado as a key member serving the French resistance during WWII. Like many Black expatriates, Baker had fled American racism to Paris, becoming fiercely devoted to her adopted country. Confronted with a direct threat of Nazism (Goebbels denounced her as ""decadent"" and an enemy of the German state), she parlayed her glamorous, outsized personality into the perfect assets for an intelligence agent. Chatting up ambassadors at diplomatic parties, she casually extracted information about Axis plans, sometimes scribbling notes on her arms or hiding them in her underwear. Her magnificent country estate, Ch�teau des Milandes, became a hideout for refugees and Resistance workers. On the pretext of touring, she was able to smuggle documents to the Free French and intel about German troop movements to the British. As a pilot she flew desperately needed aid to refugees in the Netherlands. Lewis provides a rollicking, energetic commentary on Baker's adventures, noting her sangfroid in face of German interrogators and her boundless compassion for wounded soldiers and war victims. Lewis also reveals her quirky side, her bawdy humor, her spats with jealous fellow entertainers, and her ill-advised love affair with spy chief Jacques Abtey. Lewis' biography is set to be adapted for a miniseries starring Janelle Mon�e as the remarkably talented and courageous Agent Baker.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 10, 2024

Who makes the best secret agent? Someone nobody notices, or someone everyone notices? Josephine Baker was a world-renowned superstar in the 1940s. A singer, dancer, and actress who defied her humble beginnings in St. Louis, she went on to fame and fortune in Europe and wholly embraced her adopted country of France. During World War II, Baker stepped up to help fight the Nazis and became a courageous agent who helped turn the war in favor of the Allied forces. Lewis's (Operation Relentless) biography covers missions beyond Baker's role and highlights a little-known but intriguing story. The focus is on Baker's war efforts, but listeners will also learn a little more about her life and loves and come to appreciate this amazing woman who left her mark beyond the entertainment industry. As a narrator, Lewis is serviceable, providing a solid, if basic, reading. Unfortunately, while he communicates his passion for his subject, production issues fail to make this a pleasurable listen. VERDICT Despite the captivating tale of admirable bravery, this book could have benefited from a more skilled narrator and sound engineer. An optional audio purchase for most libraries.--Christa Van Herreweghe

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.