Jill Watts, Author . Oxford $35 (400p) ISBN 978-0-19-510547-6
Part sexy blonde bombshell, part delusional Norma Desmond, West created an invulnerable, tough-talking, sexually assertive persona, partly to mask insecurities and psychological wounds from early sexual assaults, asserts Watts in this remarkably...
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Jill Watts, Author . Amistad $27.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-051490-7
In her imperfect yet fascinating biography, Watts (Mae West
) unveils the largely tragic tale of Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Academy Award. Born in 1893, the youngest daughter of freed slaves, McDaniel sang and danced to...
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Jill Watts, Author University of California Press $40 (249p) ISBN 978-0-520-07455-2
Born George Baker Jr. (1876-1965), Father Divine was a charismatic African American religious leader who in 1919 established the Peace Mission movement. In this expansion of her doctoral thesis, Watts, who teaches history at California State...
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Jill Watts. Grove, $30 (560p) ISBN 978-0-8021-2910-9
Watts (Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood), a professor of history at California State University, San Marcos, delivers a unique and enlightening portrait of “the informal group of black federal employees” who sought to advance African-
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