Anna Held was America's most popular musical comedy star during the two decades preceding World War I. In the colourful world of New York theatre during La Belle epoque, she epitomized everything that was glamorous, sophisticated, and suggestive about turn-of-the-century Broadway.

She concealed her Jewish background and her daughter from a previous marriage. She suffered through her two husbands' gambling problems and Ziegfeld's blatant affairs with showgirls, which eventually led to their divorce. With the theatre scene changing and the outbreak of fighting in Europe, Held returned to France and became a passionate supporter of the war effort. She braved the trenches to entertain troops and deliver medical supplies, and she was once briefly captured by the German army. She returned to the U.S. to star in one last show and to raise funds before dying of cancer a month before the armistice was signed. Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway reveals the truth about one of the most remarkable women in the history of theatrical entertainment.