A revealing glimpse of a multifaceted entertainer who defies easy labeling.
A professional wrestling champion and cable news personality shares his road to notoriety.
Born George Murdoch in 1973, biracial performer and political commentator Tyrus grew up in an abusive, dysfunctional home where it was “chaos all the time.” In the schoolyard, Tyrus became confused and defensive when other kids “would make fun of the color of my skin,” which made him “good with my fists.” After his parents separated, he relocated with his mother to California, where football dominated his high school and junior college years. His obsession with wrestling led him toward multiple attempts at reinvention, including becoming a club bouncer, a member of Snoop Dogg’s bodyguard team, and eventually, contracts with World Wrestling Entertainment. The author relates all of his adventures through a series of vividly memorable anecdotes. One of the most memorable stories is about Snoop’s loopy yet rewarding world tour and a particularly packed night at the club where he ejected two unruly “midgets,” one in each hand by their belt buckles, using a move he dubs “the suitcase.” Seizing opportunities as they sprouted, Tyrus capitalized on his physically imposing presence; in 2006, he made his WWE debut as a street-thug superstar named “G-rilla.” He gained immense popularity in the ring and sustained a reputation as a No. 1 contender for years. After a somewhat turbulent relationship with both global and then independent wrestling corporations, he paused for movie roles and social commentary opportunities only to return to wrestle for the National Wrestling Alliance in 2021. Throughout, the author displays his thoughtful outlook on race, from his childhood through his initial attempts at joining the WWE, when comments about his skin color dug deep. The memoir is supercharged with the kind of verve and vitality fans of the wrestling champion will savor, but Tyrus never skimps on the personal details and outspoken opinions that have made his stint on Fox News endure.
A revealing glimpse of a multifaceted entertainer who defies easy labeling.Pub Date: April 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63758-066-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2022
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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