The Resistance: Ten Years of Pop Culture That Shook the World
by Armond White

Dust jacket notes: "This provocative first collection of essays by Armond White, America’s only nationally recognized Black film critic, tracks a recent phenomenon in pop music, videos, and film he calls ’the resistance’ - a politically motivated body of work reflecting a new consciousness about race, history, and sexuality. From the rise of Black independent filmmakers to the appropriation by the mainstream of hip-hop culture, White’s essays chronicle the complex changes in popular expression over the past decade, blurring the boundaries between high and low culture in a stimulating new way. Whether writing about Madonna singing with Black gospel choirs, racism in Hollywood movies, the justified arrogance of Spike Lee or the calculated rage of Ice-T, Armond White is never afraid to go against the grain. With sting and style to rival Camille Paglia, Armond White applies ’the resistance’ to his writing in order to counter the existing system of privilege and oppression that controls most journalism. He reports from the vanguard of popular culture, and the result is the documentary of a movement, a vital body of essays that records a new wave of change as it happens."