Brian Roberts begins Blackface Nation with this truly winning admission: “This project started a long time ago, so long ago that many of the people I have to thank are retired. By retired, I mean dead.” Roberts throws 1999 into the mix as a key date in the book’s genesis. As a scholar who came of professional age in that decade I can attest to how well Blackface Nation evokes a period of remarkable ferment in the study of the knotty titular entertainment form. Others who were trained in the United States in that era will find plenty of reassuring signposts: oh, hey, Eric Lott and David Roediger, figured you’d be here! And how nice to see you again, Peter Stallybrass and Allon White! This is not to say that Blackface Nation has nothing to add to the scholarly conversation, but its greatest contribution is as a sort of sober...

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