Book Reviewed: Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon by Kate Andersen Brower.

An enduring legacy of Liz Taylor Numerous books are written about Elizabeth Taylor, and so much was published in the media and supermarket tabloids during her days. Is this any different from others? Perhaps not, the author researched numerous unpublished letters, personal diaries, interview transcripts, and had conversations with family members and friends. It took a decade after Taylor’s death in 2011, her family members felt comfortable to trust a journalist. They spent Elizabeth's entire life protecting her from the rabid press to revel in her heartache after eight failed marriages, her weight gain after binges, and her trips to rehab as she battled her demons. The author recalls a conversation with Senator John Warner of Virginia, one of Taylor’s husbands, explained to the author why he loved his wife. She was the first major star to use her fame to change the course of history through her bold and defiant HIV and AIDS activism. She chaired AIDS Project Los Angeles's Commitment to Life fundraiser which was the first major celebrity AIDS fundraiser in the world. Many of her closest friends were gay men, including Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, and Roddy McDowall. They were a source of friendship and love in her life. She also became an active supporter of Israel and Jewish causes. In 1964, she joined prominent civil rights activists at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's "Freedom TV Spectacular." The nationally televised event commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to outlaw the segregation of schools. Death affected for the rest of her life; pneumonia, a broken foot, a twisted colon, three ruptured spinal discs, acute bronchitis, chemical thrombosis, phlebitis, sciatica, a tracheotomy, and three C-sections. She was married eight times to seven men, converted to Judaism, led a fast lifestyle, including the collection of the most expensive jewelry in the world. She was excessively late, always arriving hours after she was supposed to, even to her own funeral. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton honeymooned in Beverly Hills Hotel in California, and as legend has it, their standing room-service order included two bottles of vodka with breakfast, and another two bottles with lunch. By the evening, the room is strewn with alcohol, food and with furniture in disarray. Across interpretative frames, in the current political and social landscapes, Elizabeth Taylor was privileged to the possibilities open to postcolonial whites for mobility, pleasure, social and political agency without the burdens of race. Richard Burton once stated, "They say we generate more business activity than one of the smaller African nations.”