December 11, 2006

Biography by Carolyn Burke named one of New York Times's 100 Notable Books of 2006

By Scott Rappaport

Lee Miller, A Life, the latest book by longtime UCSC humanities research associate Carolyn Burke, has been named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2006 by the New York Times. Burke's biography of the iconic Vogue model turned World War II photojournalist was also nominated for the 2006 Biography Award by the National Book Critics Circle.

Cover of Lee Miller, A Life

Since its publication earlier this year by Alfred Knopf (U.S.) and Bloomsbury (U.K.), Lee Miller has received rave reviews and widespread media attention. The book was previously featured in the New York Times daily and Sunday review sections and named a NYT "Editors' Choice." London's Telegraph called it an "astounding book," and the Chicago Tribune noted that "demonstrating the same clarity of observation and sensitivity to subtleties that distinguish Miller's photographs, Burke indelibly portrays a radiant woman forced to look into the heart of darkness."

Burke has given presentations about Miller at a variety of venues in the United States, France, and Australia, including the National Arts Club, the Metropolitan Club, NYU's Maison Française, Princeton University, University of New South Wales, and Sydney University. Burke met and befriended Miller in Paris when she was writing her last book, Becoming Modern, The Life of Mina Loy (1996, Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Lee Miller is set to be published in French translation by Autrement in 2007.

A biographer, art critic, and translator, Burke has taught at UCSC, Princeton, and UC Davis; at the Universities of Western Sydney and New South Wales in Australia; and at the Sorbonne and the University of Lille in France.

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