Performing Menken Adah Isaacs Menken and the Birth of American Celebrity [Hardcover]

This book examines the life of actress Adah Isaacs Menken in the culture of the Civil War period.Performing Menken uses the life experiences of controversial actress and poet Adah Isaacs Menken to examine the culture of the Civil War period and what Menken's choices reveal about her period. It explores the roots of the cult of celebrity that emerged from crucible of war. While discussing Menken's racial and ethnic claims and her performance of gender and sexuality, Performing Menken focuses on contemporary use of social categories to explain patterns in America's past and considers why such categories appear to remain important.Performing Menken uses the life experiences of controversial actress and poet Adah Isaacs Menken to examine the culture of the Civil War period and what Menken's choices reveal about her period. It explores the roots of the cult of celebrity that emerged from crucible of war. While discussing Menken's racial and ethnic claims and her performance of gender and sexuality, Performing Menken focuses on contemporary use of social categories to explain patterns in America's past and considers why such categories appear to remain important.This study relates the experiences of controversial actress and poet Adah Isaacs Menken to the culture of the Civil War period which significantly affected her life achievements. The book explores the roots of the cult of celebrity that emerged from the crucible of war, while discussing Menken's racial and ethnic claims and her performance in relationship to gender and sexuality. It focuses on the contemporary use of social categories to explain patterns in America's past and considers why such categories remain important.1. Playing Deborah; 2. Playing the Pugilist's Wife; 3. Performing Mazeppa; 4. Performing Menken; 5. Among the Bohemians; 6. Becoming Mazeppa; 7. Becoming the Menken; 8. Finale; 9. Remember and rewriting Menken. This is a most interesting and valuable study of a performer, of a woman, and of l#É