Overview

In this hard-hitting anthology, Ishmael Reed and Carla Blank have invited a diverse group of informed and accomplished writers, both women and men, who are rarely heard to comment on the long-standing bigotry on Broadway towards many different ethnic minorities. How do intellectuals and scholars feel about how members of their ethnic groups are portrayed on Broadway? How would we know? Very few of them have the power to rate which plays and musicals are worthy and which are flops, and above all, be heard or read. The American critical fraternity is an exclusive club. In this hard-hitting anthology, Ishmael Reed and Carla Blank have invited a diverse group of informed and accomplishes writers, both women and men, who are rarely heard to comment on the long-standing bigotry on Broadway towards many different ethnic minorities. Contributors include Lonely Christopher, Tommy Curry, Jack Foley, Emil Guillermo, Claire J. Harris, Yuri Kageyama, Soraya McDonald, Nancy Mercado, Aimee Phan, Betsy Theobald Richards, Shawn Wong, David Yearsley, and the editors. Under review are Madame Butterfly, the Irving Berlin songbook, Oklahoma, South Pacific, Miss Saigon, Flower Drum Song, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Color Purple, The Book of Mormon, West Side Story and Hamilton.

Full Product Details

9781771862561

Table of Contents

Reviews

On previous anthologies by Ishmael Reed and Carla Blank On Powwow: Charting the Fault Lines of the American Experience--Short Fiction from Then to Now: Reed and Blank have selected molten and magical tales that dramatically explore the consequences of our attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality.... this is a live-wire, from-sea-to-shining-sea collection in which we hear America singing. Donna Seaman Booklist on Powwow: Charting the Fault Lines of the American Experience--Short Fiction from Then to Now Highly recommended Gene Shaw, Library Journal captivating, multifarious look at the American experience through its short fiction. Publishers Weekly, On Rediscovering America: the Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000 written and edited by Carla Blank The text thus showcases Americans of color, women, immigrants, and others who shaped our country's history but have often been marginalized.... an effective, valuable historical reference work. [Ishmael Reed] is the purest literary troublemaker we currently have... a book that is arresting... always-bracing and readable. -- Jeff Simon, Buffalo News Since the mid-twentieth century, Ishmael Reed has been deep, abrasive, and didactic, an iconoclastic champion of what is good and a formidable critic of what is bad in domestic and transnational affairs. Reed is a fighter, a battered but undefeated fighter. Jerry Ward Jr. That's what I loved about Baldwin, something that I am inspired by about Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Gwendolyn Brooks--they were all darlings of the liberal establishment, and they rejected that status, which meant they were pushed to the margins. Cornell West One of our greatest writers. Brian Flota, The Hairsplitter Just when you think that Reed is exaggerating, or being one-dimensional in his analysis of racial issues, he'll open another page of American history and show you something new. - David Homel, Montreal Review of Books With Ishmael Reed, the most persistent myths and prejudice crumble under powerful unrelenting jabs and razor-sharp insight. -- Le Devoir, Montreal

Author Information

Ishmael Reed is an award-winning poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, songwriter, lecturer and publisher. His play on the Broadway musical Hamilton, The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, garnered three 2019 AUDELCO awards. His most recent novel is The Terrible Fours (Baraka Books, 2021). He lives in Oakland. Carla Blank is a writer, director, dramaturge and editor. Author and editor of the 20th century historical reference Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000, she also co-authored Storming the Old Boys’ Citadel: Two Pioneer Women Architects of Nineteenth Century North America. She lives in Oakland.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available