"Beautifully evokes the ‘times’ of Stepin Fetchit, providing a surprisingly fresh look at the complex history of blackness and the silver screen." –Entertainment Weekly“Commendable . . . thorough and authoritative.”–The New York Times"Enthralling. . . .Watkins goes back . . . to the vaudeville road, the black-theater circuit, the tent shows, dance clubs, burlesque houses, carnivals, cabarets, race riots and lynch mobs. Stepin Fetchit is a shadow history of performance as survival." –Harper’s "Fascinating. . . . An engrossing study of Perry." –Essence