But just as she was becoming acclaimed by a more mainstream audience -- the Animals, for instance, covered her legendary version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" -- the course of her career veered away from the safe, conventional paths into the burgeoning black-consciousness movement. Her long involvement with the movement included a friendship with the black-power leader Stokely Carmichael and time spent living in Africa.

She remains a performer of compelling and often disturbing magnetism whose range is unsurpassed. Richard Williams explores the life and work of this enigmatic and brilliant woman in a book that exemplifies what great writing on music has the potential to be.