Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way

Received ARC from Goodreads Giveaway

Gaines tells an intricate story of "Shuffle Along", the first Broadway musical comedy mega-hit written, produced, and performed by Black artists. It is a detailed story of the Harlem Renaissance that may otherwise be left to the "Footnotes" of other histories. What Gaines does well are the illuminating tangents that bring along those connected to Shuffle Along with the more famously known early 20th century Black cultural icons including Langston Hughes and Josephine Baker.

I read A LOT of non-fiction...and Caseen Gaines has a good book here. It's jam-packed with history that is both about entertainment and is entertaining to read.

It's regrettable that sometimes the stories of Sissle, Blake, Miller show more and Lyles get lost. Gaines would sometimes lose these compelling narratives to name dropping that left me confused about who was who. I was sometimes left wanting more when he failed to provide context around a particular aspect salient to Shuffle Along. For example, it wasn't particularly clear that the organizational accomplishments that were learned under the guidance of Jim Europe helped the team be prepared to manage the organizational challenges of Shuffle Along.

Sometimes I want less - or maybe for some parts to simply be organized differently? Maybe, instead of listing all the different performers who held the lead roles as part of telling the story of how the show was managed...maybe pulling out those stories for their own chapter? That may result in better flow for the book.

The author's over use of conjunctions like "but" and "however" is also distracting. It is a small style issue that seemed to diminish in the second half of the book.

I do love the images that are included at the start of each chapter! Theater is such a visual medium and to include the photographs truly brought these artists to life for me. I will strongly encourage a print copy over an audio...unless the audio has supplemental material that includes the images. show less