Books like American cocktail by Anita Thompson Dickinson Reynolds

Anita Reynolds (later Thompson Dickinson) offers an unparalleled, never‑published memoir that traces her remarkable life from early silent‑film stardom to the bohemian circles of Weimar Berlin and the Left Bank. Raised as a proud African‑American with a racially mixed heritage, she frequently passed for Indian, Mexican, or Creole, a quality that helped her navigate diverse cultural arenas. Reynolds describes her work on the silver screen, including collaborations with Rudolph Valentino and attendance at Charlie Chaplin’s meetings, as well as her studies in dance with Ruth St. Denis. In the 1920s she left Hollywood for New York, mingling with Harlem Renaissance figures and Greenwich Village artists before moving to Paris, where she became entwined with figures such as Antonin Artaud, Man Ray, and Pablo Picasso. Her journey continued to Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, where she served as a journalist and witnessed the rise of fascism. In 1940, as Nazi forces approached Paris, Reynolds worked as a Red Cross nurse and escaped Europe aboard the last ship to Lisbon. Throughout the memoir, she reflects on the intersections of race, art, and politics, offering a unique portrait of the cultural and political upheavals of the early twentieth century.

First publish date: 2014