A stimulating, eclectic collection of essays.
A dramatist, dancer, musician, and critic reflectson her career, America, and world affairs in this essay anthology.
Active in some of America’s most cutting-edge dance and theater circles (including Greenwich Village’s Judson Dance Theater) for more than half a century, Blank has established herself as an educator, observer, and critic of the stage. In this collection of two dozen essays, she blends memoir vignettes with sociocultural commentary on topics that range from American history to Jewish-Palestinian relations. The book opens with a dialogue between the author and her partner, acclaimed author Ishmael Reed, as she recalls highlights from her life as a public intellectual. This conversation provides a behind-the-scenes look at the life of the dramatist and dancer, including her collaborations with Reed and others from the 1960s on multidisciplinary performance productions. She also discusses her artistic inspirations, such as dancer Martha Graham, who visited Blank’s hometown of Pittsburgh during the author’s youth. Other essays cover topics like postmodernism and abstract art (she challenges Eurocentric narratives that suggest abstraction began in the 20th century, invented by disaffected white men). Blank is particularly keen on tackling American mythmaking that centers the powerful; many of her historical essays offer fresh perspectives on topics from the Spanish influence on colonial America to her chapter-length analysis of the Black musical tradition that influenced Elvis Presley (“It’s the critics who claim that these White musicians have somehow transcended the efforts of those who inspired them”). The book’s titular essay reflects on Blank’s experience as a Jew living in the West Bank Palestinian city of Ramallah as viewed through the prism of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. The text includes reproductions of her email correspondence that provide an honest, intimate look at her experiences. Blank is unafraid to challenge prevailing norms that center white men, but she is more than just a polemicist in her well-formed, convincing, intellectual critiques. Those interested in the post–World War II counterculture and avant-garde art scene will appreciate this insider’s account that blends memoir with intellectually rigorous commentary.
A stimulating, eclectic collection of essays.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781771863568
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Baraka Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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