New York City Vaudeville provides a unique pictorial record of America�s preeminent entertainment medium in the late 1800s through the early 1930s. New York�s Palace Theatreserved as the flagship for vaudeville; on which stage everyvaudevillian aspired to perform. New York City Vaudevillefeatures photographs of some of the greatest names fromthe Palace Theatre; including Jack Benny; George Burnsand Gracie Allen; Anna Held; the Marx Brothers; and Eva Tanguay; as well as legendary African American performers such as Bill Robinson; Ethel Waters; and Bert Williams. Through the photographs and the capsule biographies; the reader is transported back to a time when vaudeville was the people�s entertainment; with a new bill of fare each week and an ever-changing number of performers with ever-changing styles of presentation.
#559576 in eBooks 2012-09-07 2012-09-07File Name: B0097E4IJ4
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Looking at how we remember and memorialize things in modern America.By J. J. KwashnakMonument Mania looks at the explosion of (mostly American) tendency to commemorate so many things with formal and ersatz memorials in the 20th and 21st century. The book is organized around themes (Grief. Fear. Gratitude. Shame and Anger) with focus being put in each section on one or more memorials (or type of memorials) and their stories and development. The memorials to the shooting at Columbine High School. the World Trade Center. and Pentagon and Pennsylvania 9/11 memorials. the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial. the World War II Memorial on the Mall and others are examined in depth. looking at their development and their role (and the changing of their role) in the landscape of memory.Doss is a professor of American Studies. and as such the book is not a straight historical narrative. Rather it approaches the issue in a interdisciplinary manner. bringing in history. sociology. psychology. art theory among other fields. The author also is not a dispassionate neutral observer - he carries in a very strong political lean that may be offputting to some readers. One very positive piece is that he illustrates the text with a large number of photos of the memorials he is discussing so the reader can have a better understanding of what he is trying to say.The book was published in 2010. at a point where many of the monuments related to 9/11 that he spends a lot of time discussing. were still being debated and built. and others such as the World War II monument was still fresh. It would be interesting to see him update the material to reflect what has become of the fights over memorials. their role and meaning for something so fresh in our memories. Possibly to compare the artists conception drawings with how the memorials turned out.One discordant part of the book is that it just ends. His last chapter discusses memorials as reflections of anger. or dealing with subjects that mean different things to different people (such as the evolution of the Little Bighorn battlefield). But then the chapter ends. and it is on to the notes. After going through his journey. the reader is just left out there. with no final wrap up or thoughts after having been through this survey of topics. It doesnt diminish the books survey but it just leaves it feeling a bit unfinished.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. critical thinking about memorialsBy Bill ThompsonAs the other reviewers have suggested. this is a critical look at the current trends in memorial building--the "mania" in the books title. As a student of memorials myself. I find this social criticism helpful. and I personally value the book.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Useful for scholarly research. and enjoyable as simply a non-fiction readBy lambbopThis book explores the sociological and emotional need/desire to memorialize in a clear and easily accessible way. Sometimes books like these rely too heavily on philosophy. but Doss work uses plenty of examples and explanation to back up her points. I used this book while doing research for my thesis. but it could definitely be enjoyed as a casual non-fiction read.
