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My Name Is Barbra

My Name Is Barbra

by Barbra Streisand

Penguin Publishing Group ·2023 ·1040 pages
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70/99

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About This Book

The long-awaited memoir by the superstar of stage, screen, recordings, and television. Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl (musical and film) to the long string of successes in every medium in the years that followed. The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming. She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making Yentl; her direction of The Prince of Tides; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she's found in her marriage to James Brolin. No entertainer's memoir has been more anticipated than Barbra Streisand's, and this engrossing and delightful book will be eagerly welcomed by her millions of fans. Barbra Streisand is an American singer, actress, director and producer and one of the most iconic figures in music and film, the only recording artist in history to have earned #1 albums over six consecutive decades. She has received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honor, the National Medal of Arts, France's Légion d'Honneur, and America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She founded The Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai, helping to raise awareness and push for more research into women's heart disease, the leading cause of death among women. Through the Streisand Foundation, which she established in 1986, she has supported national organizations working on preservation of the environment, voter education, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, women's issues, and nuclear disarmament. In 2021 she launched the Barbra Streisand Institute at UCLA, a forward-thinking institution dedicated to finding solutions to the most vital social issues.


Reviews

"Even her most devoted followers will be crying uncle or, more to the point, Yentl."

Joanne Kaufman· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Bottom of the Pile

"It is impossible not to balk at the book's sheer size."

Guy Pewsley· The Evening Standard Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Yet too often, Streisand loses sight of the type of work that her talents can best illuminate ..."

Dolores McElroy· Los Angeles Review of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

"I have spent the past several days reading it, so perhaps you don't have to, though there is a lot to love in it (for everyone but Mandy Patinkin and some others) ..."

Louis Bayard· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

"A 970-page victory lap ..."

Alexandra Jacobs· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Would we want anything less?"

Rachel Syme· The New Yorker Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"No reasonable person would deny this is an incredible story ..."

Donald Clarke· The Irish Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"1,000 pages of...gumption, her rhythmic Brooklyn cadence communicated via countless ellipses and more than a few pleasant divergences on her favorite kind of egg roll or a particularly good antique shopping trip ..."

Brittany Luse· NPR Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"The effect is like she's sharing coffee cake with us ..."

Chris Hewitt· The Minneapolis Star Tribune Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Long live Barbra Streisand."

Imogen West-Knights· Slate Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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