Indiana University Press blog

Book review: Starring Madame Modjeska

"Starring Madame Modjeska offers insight into not only the prodigious life of a captivating actress who crafted her own unique romantic acting style as well as her public persona; it also provides a colorful portrait of the nineteenth-century theatre." —Cosmopolitan Review

Book review: Dance, Spectacle, and the Body Politick, 1250-1750

"[This] collection more than fulfills its goal of opening up pre-1750 dance studies to a general readership, but will also be of interest to the more informed dance historian." —Historical Dance

February author events for Beth Holmgren

Starring Madame Modjeska author Beth Homgren has three events lined up for February. The first takes place February 2 at 7 p.m. when the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City hosts an Author's Evening with Beth Holmgren. You can RSVP to this event by email. To learn more about the event and the Kosciuszko Foundation, please visit the organization's website. 

On February 25 at 11 a.m., Holmgren will give a reading from her book at McIntyre's Books in Pittsboro NC. For more information, visit the bookstore's website. 

Finally, Holmgren will discuss her book at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC. This event takes place February 28 at 7:00 p.m. More details are available on the bookstore's website.

Book review: Performing South Africa’s Truth Commission

"In this beautifully constructed and densely argued volume, Cole attends to actors, scripts, and audiences, and also to the literary and artistic renderings that carried the TRC hearings to a nation and to the world." —Interventions

Book review: Dance, Spectacle, and the Body Politick, 1250-1750

"Dance, Spectacle, and the Body Politick makes an important contribution to existing dance scholarship ... The essays in Nevile’s collection add significantly to this diligent work. Every essay is both informative and interesting, and each author provides a valuable list of further readings on the topic." —The European Legacy

Two IU Press books receive IPPY Awards

We are pleased to announce that two IU Press books are winners in this year's Independent Publisher Book Awards! Indiana Barns by Marsha Williamson Mohr tied for silver in the Great Lakes Regional Non-Fiction category and Albee in Performance by Rakesh H. Solomon took bronze in the Performing Arts category. The winners were honored at a gala awards ceremony held in New York on May 23.

Established in 1996, the "IPPY" Awards seek to recognize great titles published by independent authors and publishers. Its regional awards recognize those titles with the best regional focus. To learn more about the award, please visit the Independent Publisher website.

Book review: Albee in Performance

"Rakesh Solomon's insightful study ... appeals to a broad spectrum of readers. ...[The book] not only fills a major gap in Albee scholarship, but it also contributes to theatre studies. ...[A] fascinating and quick read for those interested in Albee's plays as written and produced." —Theatre Topics

Book review: A Bird Dance Near Saturday City

"[A] fascinating study of Sidi Ballo and his art of bird dancing from the Mande masking tradition. ...This is a book that will be immensely useful to students and scholars of African cultures, performance, and orature. ...[I]ts open style will appeal also to non-specialists or those with just a passing interest in Africa." —New Theatre Quarterly

Book review: Albee in Performance

"Solomon usefully contextualizes Albee in relation to Beckett, Pinter, and other dramatists for whom such totality of vision is (or was) a significant dimension of their practice. At the same time, though, one of the strengths of this book is in demonstrating just how collaborative a theatre artist Albee is..." —New Theatre Quarterly

Catherine M. Cole essay on ROROTOKO

Catherine M. Cole, author of Performing South Africa's Truth Commission, wrote an essay about her book for ROROTOKO. Of her latest work, Cole says:

Performing South Africa’s Truth Commission is about the messy, uncertain process of transition from authoritarian to democratic rule, and the quasi-judicial ritual that South Africa used to help accomplish such a transition. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was an attempt to draw a line in the sand, to say, “that was then, this is now.” The TRC tried to separate the massive atrocities and gross violations of human rights so routinely perpetrated during forty years of apartheid from the country’s new dispensation post 1994—a multi-racial democracy with one of the most progressive constitutions in the world.

This is the first book to examine a unique and defining feature of South Africa’s TRC: its public iteration in front of audiences. Prior to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which began in 1996, there had been sixteen other truth commissions in the world, in places ranging from Uganda to Argentina. Yet South Africa’s truth commission had the distinction of being the first to transpire overtly in the public eye. Hearings happened on raised platforms and stages throughout the country, with spectators attending in person, and radio and television broadcasts transforming the commission into a media event in which thousands participated.

Read the full text of the essay here.