A Dangerous Woman: The Life, Loves, and Scandals of Adah Isaacs Menken, America's Original Superstar

Marilyn Monroe might never have become the legend she did without America's original tragic starlet: actress and poet Adah Isaacs Menken. In a century remembered for Victorian restraint, her modern flair for action, scandal and unpopular causes revolutionized show business. Born in New Orleans to a "kept woman of color," Menken eventually moved to the Midwest, where she became an outspoken protege of the rabbi who founded Reform Judaism. In New York, she became Walt Whitman's disciple. During the Civil War, she was arrested as a Confederate agent—and became America's first pin-up superstar. On stage, she was the first actress to bare all. Off-stage, she originated the front-page scandal and became the world's most highly paid actress, celebrated on Broadway, as well as in San Francisco, London and Paris. At 33, she died mysteriously.

Barbara Foster will speak about this new biography, co-authored with her husband Michael, the first to tell Menken's fascinating story.