Dave Brubeck and the Performance of Whiteness has scholarly value but, given its diminution of human agency, it will not significantly impact real life public conversations about ending white privilege and dealing with the complexities of cultural appropriation.
Books
Book Review: “Epic Annette” — What Is Heroism?
Surely the selfless subject of Anne Weber’s Epic Annette qualifies beyond doubt as a true heroine of the twentieth century?
Book Feature: An Excerpt From Roberta Silman’s “Summer Lightning”
As Spring approaches, a treat. An excerpt from Summer Lightning, the latest novel by Arts Fuse critic Roberta Silman. It is a book that attempts to convey happiness.
Film Commentary: The Books That Shaped My Film Aesthetic
Here’s a personal list of the 25 most important, influential books about American cinema. Only one book per author.
Book Review: “All Sorts of Lives” — Katherine Mansfield, A Magician With Words
We can only wonder what Katherine Mansfield might have given us had she lived a normal life span, yet we should cherish what we have, as Claire Harman has done so beautifully.
Book Review: “Jonas Mekas: The Camera Was Always Running”
Anyone who cares deeply about cinema owes Jonas Mekas an abiding debt for all that he did for independent American filmmaking.
Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse
Here’s this week’s poem, “Creeley Song.”
Book Review: “Why Dance Matters” — Slip Sliding Away
Because Mindy Aloff is so deeply personal and idiosyncratic — and so dependent on what was programmed by certain theaters, in certain years — her book distorts the very topic it is intended to illuminate.
Book Review: Janet Malcolm’s “Still Pictures” — An Anti-Confessional
Janet Malcolm never brings up the possibility that her powers of memory have dramatically diminished in old age. If that were the case, such an admission would’ve strengthened the book, giving it context. It would have humanized it, too.
Book Review: “What’s Prison For?” — A Case for Building Trust and Mutual Respect
In this valuable and necessary book Bill Keller argues that American prisons need to accept that men and women don’t stop being human beings because they’re in the custody of the state.