Her Name Is Barbra: An Intimate Portrait of the Real Barbra Streisand
by By Riese, Randall
Category: Music , General

The name alone summons flashes of brilliant talent and temperament, explosive outbursts of demonstrative power, and an untamed ego. But, who is the real Barbra Streisand, the Jewish girl from Flatbush, who grew up to become the biggest multimedia star of her generation? Despite the thousands of articles and handful of books that have been written about her, that question remains unanswered. Until now.Randall Riese has uncovered the fascinating, startling, and often disturbing facts of Streisand's life. Hers is the ultimate Cinderella story: that of an ugly duckling whose father died when she was an infant. Her Name Is Barbra reveals for the first time the true account of Streisand's troubled, emotionally abused childhood.Now in her fourth decade of international music and movie stardom, Streisand, a woman of great paradox, shies away from an adoring public. She is not only afraid as is well known to sing in public, she also fears going out in public, taking public transportation, even using public restrooms. She has become as one of her friends puts it, "one of the great introverts of our time."Ever since she arrived in Hollywood in 1967 to make Funny Girl, the film version of her Broadway smash, she has been depicted as the all-time bitch: cold, brash, obsessively controlling. Now Her Name Is Barbra reveals another side of Streisand, a side which the men in her life - Elliott Gould, Warren Beatty, Pierre Trudeau, Ryan O'Neal, Jon Peters, Don Johnson, Peter Weller, Andre Agassi, among them - have discovered for themselves.Her Name Is Barbra includes detailed, behind-the-scenes information, much of it never before revealed about her discovery in a gay nightclub in Greenwich Village; the Broadway shows that launched her career; and her films, including Funny Girl, The Way We Were, A Star Is Born, and Yentl, the last of which marked her official debut as a director. There is also an examination of her political leanings, from Kennedy to Clinton, and her activism, from feminism to AIDS awareness, and the role she played in the attempted boycott of Colorado antigay legislation.Her Name Is Barbra explores Streisand's strained relationships with her mother and sister, the friendships she abruptly severed on her rise to stardom, and her increasing closeness to her son, Jason. It was Barbra who raced to his defense when the tabloids falsely reported that he had gotten married - to another man. The book also examines the on-and off-set production of The Prince of Tides, a picture which, in many ways, was Barbra's attempt to confront and resolve the traumas of her childhood.Her Name Is Barbra is based on hundreds of interviews, personal anecdotes, archival information, court documents, and various other sources. Ambitious in scale, it is filled with fascinating detail and imbued with intimacy. Compassionate yet revealing, Her Name Is Barbra is worthy of its legendary subject.