{"product_id":"composition-in-black-and-white-the-life-of-philippa-schuyler-9780195113938","title":"Composition in Black and White: The Life of Philippa Schuyler","description":"George Schuyler, a renowned and controversial black journalist of the Harlem Renaissance, and Josephine Cogdell, a blond, blue-eyed Texas heiress and granddaughter of slave owners, believed that intermarriage would invigorate the races, thereby producing extraordinary offspring. Their daughter, Philippa Duke Schuyler, became the embodiment of this theory, and they hoped she would prove that interracial children represented the final solution to America's race problems.\u003cbr\u003e Able to read and write at the age of two and a half, a pianist at four, and a composer by five, Philippa was often compared to Mozart. During the 1930s and 40s she graced the pages of \u003cem\u003eTime\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eLook\u003c\/em\u003e magazines, the \u003cem\u003eNew York Herald Tribune\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e. Philippa grew up under the adoring and inquisitive eyes of an entire nation and soon became the role model and inspiration for a generation of African-American children. But as an adult she mysteriously dropped out of sight, leaving America to wonder what had happened to the little Harlem genius. Suffering the double sting of racism and gender bias, Philippa had been rejected by the elite classical music milieu in the United States and forced to find an audience abroad, where she flourished as a world-class performer and composer. She traveled throughout South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia performing for kings, queens, and presidents. By then Philippa had added a second career as an author and foreign correspondent reporting on events around the globe--from Albert Schweitzer's leper colony in Lamberéné to the turbulent Asian theater of the 1960s. She would give a command performance for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium one day, and hide from the Viet Cong among the ancient graves of the Annam kings another.\u003cbr\u003e But behind the scrim of adventure, glamour, and intrigue was an American outcast, a woman constantly searching for home and self. I am a beauty--but I'm half colored...so I'm always destined to be an outsider, she wrote in her diary. Philippa tried to define herself through love affairs, but found only disappointment and scandal. In a last attempt to reclaim an identity, she began to pass as Caucasian. Adopting an Iberian-American heritage, she reinvented herself as Felipa Monterro, an ultra-right conservative who wrote and lectured for the John Birch Society. Her experiment failed, as had her parents' dream of smashing America's racial barriers. But at the age of thirty five, Philippa finally began to embark on a racial catharsis: She was just beginning to find herself when on May 9, 1967, while on an unauthorized mission of mercy, her life was cut short in a helicopter crash over the waters of war-torn Vietnam.\u003cbr\u003e The first authorized biography of Philippa Schuyler, \u003cem\u003eComposition in Black and White\u003c\/em\u003e draws on previously unpublished letters and diaries to reveal an extraordinary and complex personality. Extensive research and personal interviews from around the world make this book not only the definitive chronicle of Schuyler's restless and haunting life, but also a vivid history of the tumultuous times she lived through, from the Great Depression, through the Civil Rights movement, to the Vietnam war. Talalay has created a highly perceptive and provocative portrait of a fascinating woman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Kathryn Talalay\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/24\/1997\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 360\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.37lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.22h x 7.46w x 0.81d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780195113938\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/15\/1997 pg. 36\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKathryn Talalay\u003c\/strong\u003e, the recipient of a 1988-1989 Rockefeller Foundation Grant, was on the faculty of Indiana University for fourteen years. The author of numerous articles and a contributor to the \u003cem\u003eEncyclopedia of African-American Culture and History\u003c\/em\u003e, she is currently a project editor at W.W. Norton \u0026amp;\u003cbr\u003eCompany in New York City.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40042120872051,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":30.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_1d0b435b-2af9-4d9d-8023-01775ae45603.jpg?v=1651014290","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/composition-in-black-and-white-the-life-of-philippa-schuyler-9780195113938","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}