Description: When the woman who would become Indra Devi was born in Russia in 1899, yoga was virtually unknown outside of India. By the time of her death, in 2002, it was being practiced everywhere, from Brooklyn to Berlin to Ulaanbaatar.
Born into the minor aristocracy (as Eugenia Peterson), Devi grew up in the midst of one of the most turbulent times in human history. Forced to flee the Russian Revolution as a teenager, she joined a famous Berlin cabaret troupe, dove into the vibrant prewar spiritualist movement, and, at a time when it was nearly unthinkable for a young European woman to travel alone, followed the charismatic Theosophical leader Jiddu Krishnamurti to India. Once on the subcontinent, she performed in Indian silent cinema and hobnobbed with the leaders of the independence movement. But her greatest coup was convincing a recalcitrant master yogi to train her in the secrets of his art. Written with vivid clarity, The Goddess Pose brings Devi's remarkable story--as an actress, yogi, and globe-trotting adventuress--to life.Brief description: Michelle Goldberg is a journalist and the author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, a New York Times bestseller that was a finalist for the New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, and The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World. A senior contributing writer at the Nation, she has also written pieces for the New Yorker, the New York Times, Newsweek, the New Republic, Glamour, and many other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and children.
Review Quotes: This fascinating and groundbreaking book should be enthusiastically received by a wide audience.--Library Journal Starred Review "Library Journal Starred Review"