The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler’s Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood
Not only is
The Sun and Her Stars an engaging glimpse into a fascinating woman’s life, it is also an important reference for anyone trying to learn more about history outside of the usual white male hero tale. Salka Viertel was once known for many things: being a great writer in the male-dominated Hollywood of the 1930s, acting, throwing lovely cocktail parties, but what was truly her most unsung skill was weaving and strengthening friendships. Author Donna Rifkind makes that clear from the very beginning of her story. Salka was able to find and care for people in her life better than anyone around her had ever seen. She rubbed elbows with the famous and not-so-famous, and it didn’t matter, Salka Viertel would find a way to connect with anybody. Not just a good friend, Salka—who was a Jewish Austrian immigrant who only happened to miss needing to flee her home country by rare circumstance—used those powers of connection to bring artists over to America via emergency visas. Through her fundraising work and the co-founding of the European Film Fund, Salka’s impact on the lives of people affected by the Nazi rise to power is not something one can calculate. Rifkind does a wonderful job of telling the multifaceted and somewhat tragic life story of a brilliant woman. Salka Viertel did not do anything society expected of her, and the world was far better for it.
Author | Donna Rifkind |
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Star Count | /5 |
Format | Hard |
Page Count | 560 pages |
Publisher | Other Press |
Publish Date | 2020-01-28 |
ISBN | 9781590517215 |
Bookshop.org | Buy this Book |
Issue | July 2020 |
Category | Biographies & Memoirs |
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