Description
Pub date, 1 Nov. 2024 – Pre-order now. Free shipping in North America
This wide-ranging collection of essays explores various milestones and landmarks of American music, theatre, dance–and life in general. From Elvis Presley to Kabuki, from dance to destruction, Blank dissects how culture, society and politics have intersected–sometimes for the better, often not. The title essay, written after the events of October 7, 2023, looks back on a three-month residency in Ramallah in 2013 and how this insight and experience has shaped Blank’s understanding of both art and conflict. Blank’s long career as a working artist in multiple sectors lends this collection a unique authority and searing insight that is both refreshing and much needed.
In addition, in an exclusive interview with her partner Ishmael Reed, we learn how a curious young Jewish woman from Pittsburgh developed into a committed and eloquent public intellectual.
A Renaissance woman, Carla Blank has distinguished herself as a dancer, choreographer, author, director, dramaturge, teacher, editor, journalist, and Jazz musician (violinist). She has written or edited five books, including Bigotry on Broadway, Storming the Old Boys’ Citadel, and Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000. In dance, she has collaborated with directors/designers or choreographers such as Robert Wilson and Suzushi Hanayagi. In theater, she has directed plays and multimedia performances in many cities in the United States, in China, in West Bank Palestinian cities, including at the Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem. Her articles have appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, and El Païs (Spain). Carla Blank lives in Oakland.
Praise and Reviews
“Blank and Reed offer an incisive, critical take on Broadway’s past and present; discuss an alternative vision that incorporates the perspectives missing from Broadway; and look toward a more inclusive future. A book for all readers interested in the history of Broadway musicals, theater criticism, and the role of whiteness in Broadway’s misrepresentations.” Library Journal
On Rediscovering America
“An effective, valuable historical reference work. A worthwhile acquisition for academic, public, and high school libraries.” Library Journal
On Storming the Old Boys’ Citadel
“Books like this one are vital in highlighting what our history notes have left out. They remind us to redefine our views and question our records. If we need to redefine the history of architecture today, let it include women.” Montreal Review of Books
CONTENTS
1 Author Carla Blank Interviewed by Ishmael Reed
2 Postmodernism
3 Whose Abstract Art?
4 America the Beautiful
5 Elvis Presley: King or Apprentice?
6 Neglecting a Grand Old Lady
7 A new New Deal for the Arts
8 When Kabuki is not Kabuki
9 Apollo Could Be a Bitch
10 How Buffalo’s Lafayette Hotel Went from Fleabag to Fabulous
11 The Education of Paul Ryan
12 Storming the Old Boys’ Citadel
13 Prince: Dance and Pain
14 Purging History: Was Orlando Really the Worst Massacre in U.S. History?
15 The Sorrows of Young Alfonso by Rudolfo Anaya
16 Suzushi Hanayagi at Mulhouse
17 L’arte è per 1’1% ispirazione e per il 99% duro lavoro /Art is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, an interview with Carla Blank by Corinne Bergamini
18 Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over by Nell Painter
19 The Resurrection of Sister Aimee
20 A Grande Dame of Dance
21 Is Broadway About Dollars and Cents
22 Public Purpose, Public Art
23 Finding Nature in a Built Environment
24 A Jew in Ramallah
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