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A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance
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About This Book
A stirring meditation on Black performance in America from the New York Times bestselling author of Go Ahead in the Rain At the March on Washington in 1963, Josephine Baker was fifty-seven years old, well beyond her most prolific days. But in her speech she was in a mood to consider her life, her legacy, her departure from the country she was now triumphantly returning to. "I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too," she told the crowd. Inspired by these few words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Each moment in every performance he examines—whether it's the twenty-seven seconds in "Gimme Shelter" in which Merry Clayton wails the words "rape, murder," a schoolyard fistfight, a dance marathon, or the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealt—has layers of resonance in Black and white cultures, the politics of American empire, and Abdurraqib's own personal history of love, grief, and performance. Abdurraqib writes prose brimming with jubilation and pain, infused with the lyricism and rhythm of the musicians he loves. With care and generosity, he explains the poignancy of performances big and small, each one feeling intensely familiar and vital, both timeless and desperately urgent. Filled with sharp insight, humor, and heart, A Little Devil in America exalts the Black performance that unfolds in specific moments in time and space—from midcentury Paris to the moon, and back down again to a cramped living room in Columbus, Ohio.
Reviews
"Told with humor and grace, Abdurraqib's stories will inspire and provoke thoughtful meditations on how Black lives matter in all areas of life and art."
"It's an absolutely brilliant book from a critic who's become one of the country's most essential writers ..."
"Abdurraqib consistently engages the reader, mixing conversational tones and poetic turns of phrase, with surprising, succinct insights."
"Music, [...] in the work of Hanif Abdurraqib, is more like a vehicle for getting closer to what it means to be feel joy, and history, and shame, and anger, and lonesomeness ..."
"We need that joy, that celebration, this book."
"[A] wide, deep, and discerning inquest into the Beauty of Blackness as enacted on stages and screens, in unanimity and discord, on public airwaves and in intimate spaces ..."
"Every subject is carefully chosen in the service of a broader critical project ..."
"Another winner from Abdurraqib, a writer always worth paying attention to."
"Each of his portraits of cultural figures is carefully etched and distinct, such as that of the virtuosic Juba, a brilliant dancer whose energetic, skilful act was witnessed by Charles Dickens, and whose final performance might well have been in Dublin."
"If not in such lofty terms, Abdurraqib makes a contribution to this discourse with his latest collection ..."
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