NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST A sweeping genrebending masterpiece Minneapolis Star Tribune exploring Black art music and culture in all their glory and complexityfrom Soul Train Aretha Franklin and James Brown to The Fresh Prince of BelAir Whitney Houston and Beyonc ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR Chicago Tribune The Philadelphia Inquirer The Dallas Morning News Publishers Weekly Gorgeous essays that reveal the resilience heartbreak and joy within Black performance.Brit Bennett 1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half I was a devil in other countries and I was a little devil in America too. Inspired by these few words spoken by Josephine Baker at the 1963 March on Washington MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow and bestselling author Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Each moment in every performance he examineswhether its the twentyseven seconds in Gimme Shelter in which Merry Clayton wails the words rape murder a schoolyard fistfight a dance marathon or the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealthas layers of resonance in Black and white cultures the politics of American empire and Abdurraqibs own personal history of love grief and performance. Touching on Michael Jackson Patti LaBelle Billy Dee Williams the WuTan Clan Dave Chappelle and more Abdurraqib writes prose brimming with jubilation and pain. With care and generosity he explains the poignancy of performances big and small each one feeling intensely familiar and vital both timeless and desperately urgent. Filled with sharp insight humor and heart A Little Devil in America exalts the Black performance that unfolds in specific moments in time and spacefrom midcentury Paris to the moon and back down again to a cramped living room in Columbus Ohio. WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL AND THE GORDON BURN PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD AND