"Just as the title captures our attention, so too does Ballo's larger-than-life bird masquerade. McNaughton is clearly not afraid of admitting to and appreciating the awe-inspiring power of art, and it is this appreciation that provides new ways of critically thinking about art, artistic behavior, and performance—both in Africa and more universally."
~caa.reviews
"[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
"This work is theoretically informed, drawing on performance studies, critiques of ethnographic representation, radical empiricism, and praxis/agency theory, but thankfully, it is a terrific read, and uses this theory to clear the way for an informed and appreciative engagement in depth with human expression in context. September, 2011"
~Journal of Folklore Research
". . . a book well worth reading about a galvanizing masquerade event; its star performer; the ideas and other people with whom he created the event; and the ramifications for the study of individuality, aesthetics, and the making of meaning and value. April 2009"
~Elisabeth den Otter, H-AfrArts
"For the first time, a scholar makes us experience the charisma and 'star—appeal' of the men behind the masks in Africa. McNaughton makes the 'Mande' world vivid and brilliantly succeeds in his goal of using stories about individuals to bring societies to life. No one will think about African masquerade in the same way again after reading this book."
~Z. S. Strother, Columbia University
