Check out some of the players from vaudeville!

[Lee]

Hi all,

I just had a new book hit Audible called The Prettiest Girl on Stage is a Man: Race and Gender Benders in American Vaudeville by Kathleen B. Casey. This is a nonfiction book with some very colorful characters...

In this lively and enlightening study, Kathleen B. Casey explores the ways in which the gender- and race-bending spectacles of vaudeville dramatized the economic, technological, social, and cultural upheaval that gripped the United States in the early 20th century. She focuses on four key performers. Eva Tanguay, known as "The I Don't Care Girl", was loved for her defiance of Victorian decorum, linking white womanliness to animalistic savagery at a time when racial and gender ideologies were undergoing significant reconstruction. In contrast, Julian Eltinge, the era's foremost female impersonator, used race to exaggerate notions of manliness and femininity in a way that reinforced traditional norms more than it undermined them. Lillyn Brown, a biracial woman who portrayed a cosmopolitan black male dandy while singing about an antebellum southern past, offered her audiences, black and white, starkly different visual and aural messages about race and gender. Finally, Sophie Tucker, who often performed in blackface during the early years of her long and heralded career, strategically played with prevailing ideologies by alternately portraying herself as white, Jewish, black, manly, and womanly, while managing, remarkably, to convince audiences that these identities could coexist within one body.

The link to the sample on Audible is here: http://www.audible.com/pd/Arts-Entert...

PM me with your email address or post it below if you're interested in a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

All the best!
Lee Ann

[Jessica]

Lee,

I finished listening to your book. The review is up on Audible.com, Goodreads, and my blog.

I enjoyed both you and the book. Gave you five stars. I look forward to listening to some of your other books.

[Lee]

Jeffrey wrote: "Lee,

I finished listening to your book. The review is up on Audible.com, Goodreads, and my blog.

I enjoyed both you and the book. Gave you five stars. I look forward to listening to some of your ..."

I just finished reading your review! I'm so glad you liked the book, Jeffrey! Thanks so much. :)

Best,
Lee Ann