Deborah Baker is an American biographer and essayist.
She is the author of ''A Blue Hand: The Beats in India'', a biography of
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
that focuses on his time in India and of ''In Extremis: The Life of
Laura Riding
Laura Riding Jackson (born Laura Reichenthal; January 16, 1901 – September 2, 1991), best known as Laura Riding, was an American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer.
Early life
She was born in New York City to Nathan ...
'', a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography in 1994. She also writes for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''. Her book ''The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism'' (2011) is a biography of Maryam Jameelah (born Margaret Marcus), a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
woman from New York who converted to Islam.
In 2012, she wrote a critical review for ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' of ''Defender of the Realm'', the
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, and
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant
The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation
Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard ...
to complete her book, ''The Last Englishmen: Love, War and the End of Empire.''
Works
*''Making a Farm: The Life of Robert Bly;'' Charlottesville, Va., 1981.
*''In Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding;'' New York : Grove Weidenfeld, 1992. ,
*''A Blue Hand: The Beats in India;'' New York : Penguin Press, 2008. ,
*''The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism.'' Saint Paul, Minn. : Graywolf, 2013. ,
*''The Last Englishmen'', Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota : Graywolf Press, 2018. ,