A portrait of a woman, an era, and a profession: the first thoroughly
researched biography of Meryl Streep--the "Iron Lady" of acting,
nominated for nineteen Oscars and winner of three--that explores her
beginnings as a young woman of the 1970s grappling with love, feminism,
and her astonishing talent.
In 1975 Meryl Streep, a promising young graduate of the Yale School of
Drama, was finding her place in the New York theater scene. Burning with
talent and ambition, she was like dozens of aspiring actors of the
time--a twenty-something beauty who rode her bike everywhere, kept a
diary, napped before performances, and stayed out late "talking about
acting with actors in actors' bars." Yet Meryl stood apart from her
peers. In her first season in New York, she won attention-getting parts
in back-to-back Broadway plays, a Tony Award nomination, and two roles
in Shakespeare in the Park productions. Even then, people said, "Her.
Again."
Her Again is an intimate look at the artistic coming-of-age of the
greatest actress of her generation, from the homecoming float at her
suburban New Jersey high school, through her early days on the stage at
Vassar College and the Yale School of Drama during its golden years, to
her star-making roles in The Deer Hunter, Manhattan, and Kramer vs.
Kramer. New Yorker contributor Michael Schulman brings into focus
Meryl's heady rise to stardom on the New York stage; her passionate,
tragically short-lived love affair with fellow actor John Cazale; her
marriage to sculptor Don Gummer; and her evolution as a young woman of
the 1970s wrestling with changing ideas of feminism, marriage, love, and
sacrifice.
Featuring eight pages of black-and-white photos, this captivating story
of the making of one of the most revered artistic careers of our time
reveals a gifted young woman coming into her extraordinary talents at a
time of immense transformation, offering a rare glimpse into the life of
the actress long before she became an icon.
