Citizen: An American Lyric
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Allyson Johnson is an actress and singer who began performing at age twelve as coanchor of Bubble Gum Digest, for which she won an Emmy. After earning a degree in psychology from Brown University, she moved to New York where she became a social worker before shifting to a career in television and radio. Johnson has recorded countless commercials, promos, audiobooks, narrations, and animation series.
"The book of the year is Claudia Rankine's Citizen. It would have been the book of any year...Citizen asks us to change the way we look; we have to believe that that might lead to changing the way we live."
-- " New Yorker""Rankine brilliantly pushes poetry's forms to disarm readers and circumvent our carefully constructed defense mechanisms...Citizen throws a Molotov cocktail at the notion that reduction of injustice is the same as freedom."
-- "New York Times Book Review""Part protest lyric, part art book, Citizen is a dazzling expression of the painful double consciousness of black life in America."
-- "Washington Post""Allyson Johnson captures every ounce of the pathos and shock contained in the stories of the racial injustice...Johnson's measured drama and impassioned dialogue interpretations rivet the listener's attention...Her memorable performance provides auditory texture and impact for the audiobook...The achievement of this audio is how it allows these stories and the author's powerful perspective to compel more empathy and vigilance about this lingering problem in America. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
-- "AudioFile""Rankine inspires sympathy and outrage, but most of all a will to take a deep look at ourselves and our society."
-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)""A prism of personal perspectives illuminates [Rankine's] meditations on race...Powerful."
-- "Kirkus Reviews"Combining poetry, essay, and images from media and contemporary art, Rankine's poetics capture the urgency of her subject matter.-- "Publishers Weekly Starred Review"
