Michelle Goldberg

The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, The Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West

Goldberg, a senior contributing writer for The Nation, traces the modern Western practice of yoga to a Russian woman named Indra Devi, who studied the practice in India before introducing it to political leaders in Russia and Shanghai and in 1947, bringing it to America and Hollywood celebrities like Greta Garbo and Gloria Swanson.