Jackson, Buzzy

PERSONAL: Female. Education: University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Home—Berkeley, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 500 5th Ave., New York, NY 10110.

CAREER: Writer.

WRITINGS:

A Bad Woman Feeling Good: Blues and the Women Who Sing Them, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Buzzy Jackson turned her doctoral thesis from the University of California, Berkeley, into the 2005 title, A Bad Woman Feeling Good: Blues and the Women Who Sing Them. Jackson provides biographical information on blues singers from Bessie Smith to Etta James, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin, among a host of other female blues greats. Jackson uses her biographical sketches to make the point that these female blues singers have furthered the cause of feminism, working to make women across America feel free to be themselves. Writing in Booklist, June Sawyers noted that this debut title gives full voice to the notion that female blues singers "refused to follow the rules about how women should behave in society," Reviewers were generally positive in their assessment of Jackson's work. A critic for Kirkus Reviews found her book "well-researched," and "an enthusiastic, patently feminist history." A contributor for Publishers Weekly had higher praise for Jackson's work, calling it a "thoughtful, fluent book." Similarly, Library Journal contributor Bill Walker called the book an "excellent introduction to pioneering women blues singers," although he complained that Jackson "stretches credibility" by her inclusion of singers such as Madonna into the blues category.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2005, June Sawyers, review of A Bad Woman Feeling Good: Blues and the Women Who Sing Them, p. 936.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2004, review of A Bad Woman Feeling Good, p. 1132.

Library Journal, January 1, 2005, Bill Walker, review of A Bad Woman Feeling Good, p. 115.

Publishers Weekly, December 13, 2004, review of A Bad Woman Feeling Good, p. 58.

ONLINE

W.W. Norton Web site, http://www.wwnorton.com/ (May 28, 2005).