{"product_id":"josephine-baker-and-the-rainbow-tribe-9780674047556","title":"Josephine Baker and the Rainbow Tribe","description":"\u003cp\u003eCreating a sensation with her risqu nightclub act and strolls down the Champs Elyses  pet cheetah in tow  Josephine Baker lives on in popular memory as the banana-skirted siren of Jazz Age Paris. In Josephine Baker and the Rainbow Tribe  Matthew Pratt Guterl brings out a little known side of the celebrated personality  showing how her ambitions of later years were even more daring and subversive than the youthful exploits that made her the first African American superstar.  Her performing days numbered  Baker settled down in a sixteenth-century chateau she named Les Milandes  in the south of France. Then  in 1953  she did something completely unexpected and  in the context of racially sensitive times  outrageous. Adopting twelve children from around the globe  she transformed her estate into a theme park  complete with rides  hotels  a collective farm  and singing and dancing. The main attraction was her Rainbow Tribe  the family of the future  which showcased children of all skin colors  nations  and religions living together in harmony. Les Milandes attracted an adoring public eager to spend money on a utopian vision  and to worship at the feet of Josephine  mother of the world.  Alerting readers to some of the contradictions at the heart of the Rainbow Tribe projectits undertow of child exploitation and megalomania in particularGuterl concludes that Baker was a serious and determined activist who believed she could make a positive difference by creating a family out of the troublesome material of race.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647579512885,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674047559","price":30.97,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674047556.jpg?v=1781693919","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/josephine-baker-and-the-rainbow-tribe-9780674047556","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}