A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance

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 powerful words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a stirring meditation on Black performance in the modern age, a compelling work in which culture, history, and his own lived experience profoundly collide.

With sharp insight, characteristic humour, and abundant 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 demonstrates, possesses layers of resonance across Black and white cultures, the complex politics of American empire, and his own deeply personal history of love and grief. This exploration spans diverse moments, 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 Chappelle's skits or a game of spades among friends.