Hanif Abdurraqib

Race, history, culture, and entertainment collide in this bracing and personal examination of black performance and the complicated, ongoing legacy of blackface and minstrel shows--from the New York Times bestselling author of Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest Author and poet Hanif Abdurraqib became fascinated by clips of black minstrel entertainers like William Henry Lane, better known as Master Juba. Wondering if there was something more complicated and deepseated in the outdated minstrel tradition, Abdurraqib found questions and tensions that remain startlingly relevant to black entertainers across popular culture today. They Don't Dance No Mo' is an urgent project, unraveling all modes and methods of black performance in this moment, when black performers in all different levels of the spotlight are coming to terms with their value, reception, and their immense impact on America. This is a personal exploration of the history of black performance in the United States, beginning with black minstrels like Master Juba and tracing that seed of minstrelsy through current types of performance such as acting, sports, writing, comedy, and music.

Notes in Praise of Black Performance

A Little Devil in America

Patrick Book

One of my favourite writers gets intensely personal and it’s beautiful and elegant.

This book is a work of art. Hanif writing about various forms of black art and performance with some stories from he's personal life are so fascinating. He’s essay on Aretha Franklin was my favorite.  

Marion

Stephanie Ridiculous

Abdurraqib's writing is stirring, comforting, calling, and lingering. There are so many pieces in here I'd like to read again and again - this'll be one I definitely pick up a physical copy of down the road.

Caitlyn Baldwin

A beautiful collection of essays. I love reading local authors. This was my first reading of Abdurraqib's work and I'm very interested in exploring his other works. I thought this collection was poetic as he weaved together commentary on black history and culture along with his own personal experience growing up in Columbus.

Cola

Whenever I'm getting close to finishing one of Hanif's books I always end up reading it slower because I don't want it to end. Absolutely beautiful from start to finish. The more I read his work the more I have difficulty picking a favorite. It's one of those books you read and wish that you could then erase your memory and read it again so you can enjoy experiencing it for the first time.

Tarannum Kamlani

cee 

Kristen Thomas

Kay Sutherland

Mikre 

Sonia Grgas

Will Vunderink

A stirring meditation on Black performance in America from the New York Times bestselling author of Go Ahead in the Rain “Whether heralding unsung entertainers or reexamining legends, Hanif Abdurraqib weaves together gorgeous essays that reveal the resilience, heartbreak, and joy within Black performance. I read this book breathlessly.”—Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half 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.

A Little Devil in America Notes in Praise of Black Performance

Reviews