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Not Your China Doll
The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong
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‘A deeply researched, hugely empathic biography.’ HELEN O’HARA
‘Sure to enthral anyone fascinated by audacious, before-their-time women.’ KAREN ABBOTT
‘This superbly detailed book does Wong’s story proper justice.’ BOB STANLEY
‘A must read, for anyone who loves pop culture or cares about representation in Hollywood.’ PHIL YU
Set against the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles in the gin-soaked Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood, this debut book celebrates Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star, to bring an unsung heroine to light and reclaim her place in cinema history.
In her time, Anna May was a legendary beauty, witty conversationalist, and fashion icon. Plucked from her family’s laundry business in Los Angeles, she rose to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks’s blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad. Fans and the press clamored to see more of this unlikely actress, but when Hollywood repeatedly cast her in stereotypical roles, she headed abroad in protest.
Anna May starred in acclaimed films in Berlin, Paris, and London; she dazzled royalty and heads of state across several nations, leaving trails of suitors in her wake. She returned to challenge Hollywood at its own game by speaking out about the industry’s blatant racism. She used her new stature to move away from her typecasting as the China doll or dragon lady, and worked to reshape Asian American representation in film.
Along with unprecedented access to Anna May’s personal effects courtesy of the Wong family, in Not Your China Doll, Katie Gee Salisbury also draws on her own experiences as an Asian American woman to showcase the vibrant, radical life of a groundbreaking artist.
About the Author:
Katie Gee Salisbury is a writer and photographer. She has written about Anna May Wong for the New York Times and Vanity Fair and has spoken about her on MSNBC. She was a finalist for the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in 2021, she gave the TED Talk ‘As American as Chop Suey’ and she has spoken at the Museum of…
Press Reviews:
Fast-paced, thoroughly researched . . . the ideal author to guide us through the actor’s life. [Salisbury] effectively leverages her personal experience with systemic injustice, as well as her wide-ranging knowledge of Hollywood and cinema, to give Wong the biography that she has long deserved.
- Veronica Esposito, Guardian
Splendidly entertaining . . . Salisbury gives us an evocative portrait of Wong, the fashionable flapper with
cloche hat and silk dress cheerfully spouting "jazz girl jargon" for the celebrity press and attracting lovers . . . Salisbury writes about her subject with knowing warmth. There is, in these pages, none of that modish condemnation of past attitudes one might have expected from a debut biography by a young writer. Not Your China Doll is an intelligent study, acutely sympathetic to Wong, but generous to her contemporaries.
- Pratinav Anil, The Times
A rich biography . . . The Wong who emerges from Salisbury’s lively and admiring account is a character who brimmed with resilience, intelligence and wit . . . Salisbury also paints an evocative picture of the ramshackle embryonic days of Hollywood.
- Alison Kerr, Daily Telegraph
A deeply researched, hugely empathic biography that places Anna May Wong's extraordinary life in the full context of her times, and allows her natural warmth and wit to shine brightly through.
- Helen O'Hara, author of WOMEN VS HOLLYWOOD
Anna May Wong re-invented herself so many times, but always kept her mystery caged. She had to endure work in Hollywood's shadow spaces, yet became the first Asian American woman with a star on Hollywood Boulevard. Salisbury has a jazz-age sense of fun and stylishness, and this superbly detailed book does Wong's story proper justice.
- Bob Stanley, author of YEAH YEAH YEAH
A lively and detailed read, full of fascinating insights into a true movie star. Reading it, I felt like I was Anna’s specially chosen confidant, gossiping over cocktails at a 1920s Hollywood party. Divine!
- Ellen E. Jones, author of SCREEN DEEP
See the publisher website: Faber & Faber
See the complete filmography of Anna May Wong on the website: IMDB ...
> On a related topic:
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A Complete Guide to Her Film, Stage, Radio and Television Work
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