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Barbra Streisand has been called the �most successful...talented performer of her generation� by Vanity Fair, and her voice, said pianist Glenn Gould, is �one of the natural wonders of the age.� Streisand scaled the heights of entertainment�from a popular vocalist to a first-rank Broadway star in Funny Girl to an Oscar-winning actress to a producer and director. But she has also become a cultural icon who has transcended show business. To achieve her success, Brooklyn-born Streisand had to overcome tremendous odds, not the least of which was her Jewishness. Dismissed, insulted, even reviled when she embarked on a show business career for acting too Jewish and looking too Jewish, she brilliantly converted her Jewishness into a metaphor for outsiderness that would eventually make her the avenger for anyone who felt marginalized and powerless. Neal Gabler examines Streisand�s life and career through this prism of otherness�a Jew in a gentile world, a self-proclaimed homely girl in a world of glamour, a kooky girl in a world of convention�and shows how central it was to Streisand�s triumph as one of the voices of her age.