Books by Jennifer Homans
“It’s a biography of a man who almost walks with the 20th century, so you get all that history. Balanchine was of Georgian heritage and grew up in Tsarist Russia. Early on, he was selected to go into the Imperial Ballet School, so he’s on that track. Then, the Russian Revolution happens and everything falls into turmoil on all fronts. There’s a lot of hunger, violence, and chaos…Balanchine eventually winds up in America, where he meets well-connected benefactors and cultural managers. They feel that American ballet hadn’t yet achieved the same level of institutional high standing as Europe. They have the ambition to rectify that and are keen to use people like Balanchine and others who had come over to the US. Eventually, Balanchine sets up the New York City Ballet Company, which, in effect, becomes the country’s national ballet.” Read more...
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2023 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist
Frederick Studemann, Journalist
Interviews where books by Jennifer Homans were recommended
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1
Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World
by John Vaillant -
2
Mr. B: George Balanchine’s Twentieth Century
by Jennifer Homans -
3
Time's Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance
by Jeremy Eichler -
4
Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World, 1848-1849
by Christopher Clark -
5
Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution
by Tania Branigan -
6
Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children
by Hannah Barnes
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2023 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist, recommended by Frederick Studemann
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2023 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist, recommended by Frederick Studemann
If you’re looking for compelling stories that also happen to be true, the UK’s Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction is a great place to start. Frederick Studemann, Literary Editor of the Financial Times, talks us through the six brilliant books that made the 2023 shortlist, from a gripping account of a 2016 firestorm in Alberta to the shadow the Cultural Revolution continues to cast over today’s China. Read more nonfiction book recommendations on Five Books
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1
G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
by Beverly Gage -
2
The Grimkés: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family
by Kerri K. Greenidge -
3
Mr. B: George Balanchine’s Twentieth Century
by Jennifer Homans -
4
Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life
by Clare Mac Cumhaill & Rachael Wiseman -
5
Up from the Depths: Herman Melville, Lewis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times
by Aaron Sachs
The Best Biographies of 2023: The National Book Critics Circle Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Taylor
The Best Biographies of 2023: The National Book Critics Circle Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Taylor
Talented biographers examine the interplay between individual qualities and greater social forces, explains Elizabeth Taylor—chair of the judges for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle award for biography. Here, she offers us an overview of their five-book shortlist, including a garlanded account of the life of J. Edgar Hoover and a group biography of post-war female philosophers.