A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance

In his book "The March," Hanif Abdurraqib explores Black performance in the modern age, exploring iconic and intimate performances that have layers of resonance across Black and white cultures, the politics of American empire, and his own personal history of love and grief.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 24 March 2022
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

As featured on Barack Obama's Summer 2022 Reading List


Winner of the Gordon Burn Prize


Winner of the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction


Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award


Finalist for the Pen/Diamonstein-Spievogel Award for the Art of the Essay


Shortlisted for the National Book Award




Gorgeous - Brit Bennett


Pure genius - Jacqueline Woodson


One of the most dynamic books I have ever read - Clint Smith




At the March on Washington, Josephine Baker reflected on her life and her legacy.




She had spent decades as one of the most successful entertainers in the world, but, she told the crowd, I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too.




Inspired by these words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a stirring meditation on Black performance in the modern age, in which culture, history, and his own lived experience collide.




With sharp insight, humor, and heart, Abdurraqib explores a sequence of iconic and intimate performances that take him from mid-century Paris to the moon -- and back down again, to a cramped living room in Columbus, Ohio.




Each one, he shows, has layers of resonance across Black and white cultures, the politics of American empire, and his own personal history of love and grief -- whether it's the twenty-seven seconds of "Gimme Shelter" in which Merry Clayton sings, or the magnificent hours of Aretha Franklin's homegoing; Beyoncé's Super Bowl show or a schoolyard fistfight; Dave Chapelle's skits or a game of spades among friends.

Weight: 238g
Dimension: 130 x 197 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780141995793