About the Author

The author of six novels-and of Crossed Over, the story of her friendship with Karla Faye Tucker-Beverly Lowry is the director of the Creative Nonfiction Program at George Mason University. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

“A riveting, wrenching drama…. Lowry writes with brio and enthusiasm.” --The New York Times Book Review

“A joyous celebration.... an exuberant, truly sympathetic portrait of a fascinating woman.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“Lowry, who has immense energy and a powerful and dramatic writing style, has done prodigious research. She paints a vivid and engrossing picture of the world Madam Walker emerged from and triumphed over.” –Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Splendid. . . . A dramatic page-turner of a tale. . . . Utterly compelling.” —New Orleans Times-Picayune

“A picture of an impulsive, generous, furtive, commanding, entrepreneurial person. . . . By book’s end you can’t help feeling that Madam Walker must have been a real corker to be around. . . . Thanks to Beverly Lowry, Madam C.J. Walker is with us again.” –The Wall Street Journal

“[Lowry] brings a narrative approach to her portrayal of Walker, a novelist’s recognition of the way a life, like a story, develops and arcs over time.” –Los Angeles Times

“A three-dimensional portrait of the period that resurrects the ghosts of Walker’s early years. . . . The depth of [Lowry’s] research . . . gives the writing real solidity. . . . Her Dream of Dreams does everything a biography ought to–evoke a life, a personality–while pushing the form beyond its limits.’” –Newsday

“Beautifully written . . . puts the Horatio Alger story to shame. With crystal-clear prose, lively anecdotes and dutiful research Beverly Lowry tells how Walker, against all odds, became a pioneer businesswoman and civil rights activist extraordinaire. Lowry should be saluted for giving Walker the kind of grand historical recognition she deserves.”–Douglas Brinkley, Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies and Professor of History at the University of New Orleans

“Highly evocative. . . A remarkable tale. . . . Because of Lowry’s tireless, creative research, Madam C.J. Walker breathes–and inspires–once again.” –The Plain Dealer

“Vivid. . . . [Lowry’s] research is amazingly thorough.” –Houston Chronicle

“Lowry has combined the skills of a novelist and the perseverance of a painstaking researcher to produce the most complete account yet of Walker’s extraordinary rise from abject poverty . . . to fame and riches. Lowry invests her telling of Walker’s story with a depth and breadth of social, political, and economic context that makes the African-American businesswoman’s achievement seem all the more remarkable.”–Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Lively, literate. . . Impeccable research informs a prose that sings, whirls, and delights.” –Kirkus Reviews

Historians have largely overlooked the remarkable success of Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919) in establishing a line of hair products for African Americans and amassing a personal fortune. On Her Own Ground, a recent biography by Walker's great-great-granddaughter, A'Lelia Perry Bundles, and this new book by noted novelist Lowry (Come Back, Lolly Ray) seek to remedy that omission. Lowry's documentary-style profile follows Walker from a sharecropper's cabin in post-Reconstruction Louisiana, to Vicksburg, MS; St. Louis; Denver; Indianapolis; Harlem; and ultimately an estate in Westchester County, NY, just after World War I. In Lowry's telling, Walker's accomplishments are counterbalanced by her struggle for acceptance among leaders of the black community such as Booker T. Washington, her competition with St. Louis businesswoman Annie Malone, and vignettes of race riots and lynchings. Lowry draws on her own Mississippi roots and, where sources are lacking, her skill as a novelist to augment substantial research in primary documents. The result is a vividly told story that will appeal to general readers and scholars alike. Recommended for public and academic libraries, alongside the biography by Bundles. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/02.]-Linda V. Carlisle, Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

"A riveting, wrenching drama.... Lowry writes with brio and enthusiasm." --The New York Times Book Review

"A joyous celebration.... an exuberant, truly sympathetic portrait of a fascinating woman." -San Francisco Chronicle

"Lowry, who has immense energy and a powerful and dramatic writing style, has done prodigious research. She paints a vivid and engrossing picture of the world Madam Walker emerged from and triumphed over." -Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Splendid. . . . A dramatic page-turner of a tale. . . . Utterly compelling." -New Orleans Times-Picayune

"A picture of an impulsive, generous, furtive, commanding, entrepreneurial person. . . . By book's end you can't help feeling that Madam Walker must have been a real corker to be around. . . . Thanks to Beverly Lowry, Madam C.J. Walker is with us again." -The Wall Street Journal

"[Lowry] brings a narrative approach to her portrayal of Walker, a novelist's recognition of the way a life, like a story, develops and arcs over time." -Los Angeles Times

"A three-dimensional portrait of the period that resurrects the ghosts of Walker's early years. . . . The depth of [Lowry's] research . . . gives the writing real solidity. . . . Her Dream of Dreams does everything a biography ought to-evoke a life, a personality-while pushing the form beyond its limits.'" -Newsday

"Beautifully written . . . puts the Horatio Alger story to shame. With crystal-clear prose, lively anecdotes and dutiful research Beverly Lowry tells how Walker, against all odds, became a pioneer businesswoman and civil rights activist extraordinaire. Lowry should be saluted for giving Walker the kind of grand historical recognition she deserves."-Douglas Brinkley, Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies and Professor of History at the University of New Orleans

"Highly evocative. . . A remarkable tale. . . . Because of Lowry's tireless, creative research, Madam C.J. Walker breathes-and inspires-once again." -The Plain Dealer

"Vivid. . . . [Lowry's] research is amazingly thorough." -Houston Chronicle

"Lowry has combined the skills of a novelist and the perseverance of a painstaking researcher to produce the most complete account yet of Walker's extraordinary rise from abject poverty . . . to fame and riches. Lowry invests her telling of Walker's story with a depth and breadth of social, political, and economic context that makes the African-American businesswoman's achievement seem all the more remarkable."-Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"Lively, literate. . . Impeccable research informs a prose that sings, whirls, and delights." -Kirkus Reviews