Tana WojczukRezensionen

This is the interesting biography of a famous American celebrity you've never heard of. Charlotte Cushman was an actress in the 19th century who lived on her own terms and crossed paths with the likes of Whitman, Hawthorne, Emerson, and Lincoln. She lived life on her own terms-lesbian, supported her family, and was famous for playing Lady Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo.

This was a really interesting look at a woman who was unbelievably famous in her time, but who history and changing social mores forgot. It was fascinating to see how entwined with more well-known historical figures and how her legacy lives on in some of the ways we approach Shakespeare today, including repipularizing the use of the original text of Romeo and Juliet instead of a ubiquitous bowdlerizarion that had been popular in the 19th century. Her dedication to and patronage of the art of other women of the time is also remarkable and inspiring.

I'd definitely recommend this for anyone interested in a fierce woman and some lesser-known, nearly-lost history