{"product_id":"holding-lightning-whitney-houston","title":"Holding Lightning \/\/ The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston (Pre-order, Sep 29 2026)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA showstopping portrait of Whitney Houston as we’ve never seen her before—a woman in her full power, a musician who knew the impact of her gift, and a fulcrum of Black celebrity—in this first major biography of the artist who became an icon.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe remember Whitney Houston for her soaring voice on songs that defined a generation and kicked open the door to Black women in pop music. Her trademark stance was a picture of elegance and power: head thrown back, arms flung straight out. Then there was her sound. One producer recalled Whitney’s otherworldly ability to hold notes, comparing it to “holding lightning in your hand, holding lightning in your throat.” She tried to hold the lightning as she bathed us all in the glow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut since her death in 2012, the woman known as “The Voice” has been reduced to just that. Whitney’s critics have slotted her memory into a tired genre of famous doomed women whose success owed more to their labels and their producers than to any agency of their own. Yet a closer look reveals a serious artist and woman of conviction striving to be who she was. She said it best: “There would be no ‘Whitney Houston’ without Whitney Houston.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eHolding Lightning\u003c\/i\u003e, leading culture critic and professor Emily Lordi has gained unique access to Houston’s innermost circle to show us the Whitney we’ve been unwilling to see—her fluid sexuality, her unapologetic love of her own talent, her insistence that she be the architect of her own career. And, crucially, Lordi positions Houston’s pivotal life in the long history of Black celebrity. Before “rooting for everybody Black” became the norm, Whitney worked as a relentless advocate for Black female talent across the entertainment industry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow, finally, in\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eHolding Lightning\u003c\/i\u003e, we have the essential, up-close portrait of the icon we thought we knew.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEmily Lordi \u003c\/strong\u003eis a writer, cultural critic, and professor of English at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of three books on Black literature and popular music, a writer-at-large for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eT: The New York Times Style Magazine,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eand a contributor to NewYorker.com, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and others. She lives in Nashville, TN.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePublisher: Mariner Books\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePublish Date : September 29, 2026\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePages: 336\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eType: Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEAN\/UPC: 9780063280311\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDimensions: \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e9 in H | 6 in W | 1 in T | 1 lb Wt\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBISAC Categories: Biography \u0026amp; Memoir, Music\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Emily Lordi","offers":[{"title":"(Pre-order, Sep 29 2026) Hardcover","offer_id":48080770924779,"sku":"9780063280311","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0253\/4014\/9820\/files\/9780063280311.jpg?v=1775940751","url":"https:\/\/rep.club\/products\/holding-lightning-whitney-houston","provider":"Reparations Club","version":"1.0","type":"link"}