A beautifully designed book that’s hampered by a sometimes-simplistic historical narrative.
A collector explores the representation of Native Americans in cigar box lithographs in his sixth nonfiction book in an ongoing series.
At the turn of the 20th century, which former high school teacher and historian Humber calls “the golden era of cigar-smoking,” eight out of 10 men smoked cigars. However, despite the centrality of stogies to American and Canadian society, the role of cigar box lithographs and advertisements has been understudied by cultural historians. As an avid collector since the 1960s, Humber has shared his astute understanding of cigar box culture in a multivolume series. In this book, he turns his attention to how Native Americans have been portrayed in this medium. After acknowledging the centuries of exploitation and racism that Indigenous people endured, he argues that “a few cigar box merchants adroitly did extend due recognition to an indigenous culture that was fast-fading into extinction.” As the volume’s title suggests, these lithographs “serenaded” native culture in ways that defied racist national policies. The book, in more than 75 vignettes, explores the presence of well-known figures like Sacajawea and Pocahontas in cigar box iconography, as well as broader representations of Indian nations, such as the Seminole. Many white historical figures who interacted with Native Americans, including explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and painter George Catlin, also make appearances. The strength of the book lies in its rich selection of more than 100 full-color lithographs, in addition to photographs, paintings, advertisements, and other ephemera. Overall, this is a visually stunning glimpse into late 19th- and early 20th-century popular culture. Its short chapters employ an enthusiastic prose style that blends Humber’s keen understanding of cigar box lithography with historical context regarding the events, people, and time periods depicted. However, much of the narrative is laudatory in its tone. This occasionally leads to questionable assertions, as when Lewis and Clark are praised for having “affirmed sovereignty of the United States throughout the region” that they explored. A general lack of formal citations may also make the scholarly readers bristle.
A beautifully designed book that’s hampered by a sometimes-simplistic historical narrative.Pub Date: May 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781038317377
Page Count: 192
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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