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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
"With Abdurraqib's instinct toward fragmentation, precision (and all that makes his subjects memorable) can be lost, along with an accurate representation of the sensuality, obscenity, and risk that drive so much of Black performance."
"Abdurraqib pens respectful, heartwarming essays that reflect on other giants in music, television, cinema, and even magic."
"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 ..."
"In another essay, Abdurraqib considers the concept of the magical negro and the unenviable role of being the Black friend who provides an escape route for White racism ..."
"Performance can demonstrate self-awareness -- a chance to define yourself by how your body moves when you're throwing down in a beef, which Abdurraqib vividly illustrates as a kind of performance."
"Startling, layered, and timely, this is an essential, illuminating collection that advances Abdurraqib's already impressive body of work."
"At heart a personal essayist, [Abdurraqib] prefers to approach big themes stealthily, often from an unusual angle."
"his prose is reliably razor-sharp."
"Abdurraqib cherishes this power to enlarge oneself within or beyond real or imagined restrictions ..."
"There's much joy in this book, as there is in the lives that Abdurraqib explores, including his own."
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