Investigates the origin and heyday of black minstrelsy and discusses whether or not the art form is actually still alive in the work of contemporary performers--from Dave Chappelle and Flavor Flav to Spike Lee. - (Baker & Taylor)

Investigates the origin and heyday of black minstrelsy, which in modern times is considered an embarrassment, and discusses whether or not the art form is actually still alive in the work of contemporary performers--from Dave Chappelle and Flavor Flav to Spike Lee. 8,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

Taylor and Aston explore the enduring impact and practice of black minstrelsy, taking examples from stage, radio, music and song, film, and television, and looking at the positive as well as negative capacity to communicate in black minstrelsy. They consider diverse artists, such as Dave Chappelle, Paul Robeson, Spike Lee, Bill Cosby, as well the 19th-century origins of black-face and associated minstrelsy. To that end, they argue that black minstrels were integral to bringing black, rural folk-culture into mainstream American culture. This study is a sober, but by no means apolitical analysis of black minstrelsy in American culture. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) - (Book News)

An exploration and celebration of a controversial tradition that, contrary to popular opinion, is alive and active after more than 150 years. - (Norton Pub)

Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen investigate the complex history of black minstrelsy, adopted in the mid-nineteenth century by African American performers who played the grinning blackface fool to entertain black and white audiences. We now consider minstrelsy an embarrassing relic, but once blacks and whites alike saw it as a black art form—and embraced it as such. And, as the authors reveal, black minstrelsy remains deeply relevant to popular black entertainment, particularly in the work of contemporary artists like Dave Chappelle, Flavor Flav, Spike Lee, and Lil Wayne. Darkest America explores the origins, heyday, and present-day manifestations of this tradition, exploding the myth that it was a form of entertainment that whites foisted on blacks, and shining a sure-to-be controversial light on how these incendiary performances can be not only demeaning but also, paradoxically, liberating. - (Norton Pub)

Library Journal Reviews

Over 150 years after the rise of minstrelsy, blackface and grotesque caricature still have the power to shock, sicken, and shame. Yet Taylor (senior editor, Chicago Review Press) and Austen (editor, Rocktober) maintain that despite its many evils, chiefly virulent racial stereotyping, the 19th-century minstrel show provided African American entertainers a platform for innovation and that its themes recur in black performance arts including Mardi Gras carnivals, decades of television comedy, and gangsta rap. The authors consider key players and performances (Bert Williams, Lincoln Perry, Zora Neale Hurston, Amos 'n' Andy, Sanford and Son, Flavor Flav, N.W.A., Tyler Perry) and critical response from Richard Wright to Bill Cosby to Spike Lee, whose powerful, troubling film Bamboozled is a furious indictment of the minstrel tradition. VERDICT For a team of white writers to take on such a racially supercharged topic is perhaps risky (the authors refer to themselves by race only once, but plainly), but their illuminating book demonstrates serious regard for the history of black performance and, through a substantial bibliography, encourages further exploration. It will interest both general readers and specialists in black entertainment.—Janet Ingraham Dwyer, State Lib. of Ohio, Columbus

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Taylor (coauthor of Faking It) and Austen (editor of Roctober magazine) provide a comprehensive and perceptive history and critique of black minstrelsy—a tradition that began in the 1840s, where black performers entertained black and white audiences by playing the grinning blackface buffoon, exaggerating the traits white people used to characterize black men. Minstrelsy emerged as the most popular form of entertainment (the ancestor of vaudeville and the variety show) until the turn of the 20th century, when the classic minstrel variety show gradually disappeared. Taylor and Austen argue that minstrelsy's "Negro caricature" became woven into American culture, reappearing in the 21st century in hip-hop, rap, Mardi Gras Zulu floats in New Orleans, and inspiring the work of artists like Lil Wayne and Spike Lee. The book explores minstrelsy's long period of popularity; artists such as Bert Williams and Master Juba; its audience's reactions; and the ways its innovative performances have influenced American culture. According to the authors, black minstrel performers did not simply re-enact degrading stereotypes, but rather satirized those stereotypes to liberate themselves and their audiences. In his performances, Bert Williams expunged some of minstrelsy's demeaning aspects to highlight its humanity and pathos, while Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles kept minstrelsy's musical legacy alive through its songs. This well-informed work deepens our understanding of a lasting element of American culture. Illus. Agent: William Clark, William Clark Associates. (Aug.)