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A subject with as much tension and sweep as the intriguing title of this work suggests it should take the reader on a journey filled with drama and dismay about an overly burdened segment of a historically battered minority, and ultimately usher in a redemptive feeling about second-wave feminism and womanist theology. Sadly, Bettye Collier-Thomas, a history professor at... Full story »

British choreographer Wayne McGregor stops and thinks before he makes a move. A rigorously analytical artist, McGregor resists the idea that dancing results from some vague and atavistic process. He is also a techno-geek, in love with digital imagery. All of which explains McGregor’s 2008 work “Entity,” the multi-media spectacle with video by Ravi Deprees and sets by Patrick... Full story »

MERIWETHER LEWIS Thomas Danisi and John Jackson Prometheus, 424 pp., $28.97 When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returned from their 27-month exploration of the farthest reaches of the new republic in 1806, they were acclaimed much as Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin after the moon voyage. Three years later, Lewis, the leader of the Corps of Discovery, was found... Full story »

In “This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All” (Harper, 288 pp. $25), writer Marilyn Johnson has created a nuanced and adoring look at modern librarians — how they are remaking America’s public libraries in the internet Age while protecting the nation’s civil liberties. Johnson’s exquisite book taps into the radical changes that libraries are going... Full story »

This book and a cup of coffee make for an ideal escape from winter. So comfortably drawn are Blake’s characters that their stories transition easily from Cape Cod to London during World War II. Iris James, postmistress of Franklin, lives in an orderly world of letters, stamps and townspeople. She not only is the sorter of letters, but the... Full story »

This time, Kathleen Marshall didn’t have to go through 11 weeks of a reality series to pick a cast. The director-choreographer became well-known from “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” in 2007. Then, she auditioned hundreds of performers who hoped to become Sandy or Danny in the next revival of “Grease.” “Calvin Berger,” the new musical that starts... Full story »

Goodbye, Captain Danny Ross. Hello, Richard Ehrlich. Eric Bogosian has finished his three-year, 60-episode stint on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” “Now it’s time to get back to the theater,” he says. While Bogosian has appeared in seven off-Broadway productions in the last 27 years — six of them shows he wrote for himself — he’ll finally make his... Full story »

'True Blue' by David Baldacci on audio and others. Full story »

Book recounting the 2008 presidential race is heavy on the sound bytes. Full story »

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the Newark Museum are repeat winners in the JerseyArts.com People’s Choice Awards for 2010. The Newark arts center won for favorite arts center, while the Newark Museum won the favorite museum category. The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey State Opera, also based in Newark, won their categories of favorite orchestra... Full story »

By Ronni Reich/For The Star-Ledger Rich blue drapes contrast the expanse of the reclining woman’s skin as an ornate fan of peacock feathers, a gold sheet, jewels and a pipe create an atmosphere of decadent sensuality. “I am not the woman in that painting,” Moroccan-born artist Lalla Essaydi said in an interview, describing her reaction to 19th-century “Orientalist” works... Full story »

For most dance companies, the movement is the message. Choreographer Lula Washington, however, ignores the lessons of the late media guru Marshall McLuhan. For her Lula Washington Dance Theatre, which opened at Montclair State University’s Alexander Kasser Theater, on Thursday, dancing by itself might not be specific enough. In Washington’s dances, the movement is more like a gaudy accessory that... Full story »

Festival explores dance cinema as high art. Full story »

John Carpenter's 1979 biopic of The King, starring Kurt Russell. And a satirical look at blaxploitation films. Full story »