"The definitive biography of Julia Child—with access to Julia's diaries and letters—written by the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed The Beatles and timed to Julia's 100th birthday. From Pasadena to Cambridge to New York, Washington, D.C., India, Ceylon, Paris, Marseilles, Santa Barbara, and Maine, Bob Spitz re-creates an extraordinary life. He takes us beyond the image of Julia as the tall, eccentric woman with a funny voice who taught America how to cook, to establish her as a genuine rebel and beloved icon, a woman who redefined herself in middle age, helped to change the role of women in America, set the standard for how to create a public personality in the modern media world, and altered the way America eats and thinks of food. There might not be a Food Network or even a PBS if Julia had not blazed the trail. Spitz chronicles Julia's friendships, her struggles, her heartwarming romance with Paul, and, of course, the story of the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her triumphant TV career. A thorough, surprising, affectionate and extraordinarily entertaining account of a truly remarkable life."