A phenomenal, informative read on the history of spoken word. I would’ve really enjoyed this during my undergrad (I was a poetry major). Bennett weaves his personal life and perspective with milestones in the spoken poetry community. I especially enjoyed learning about the “Nuyorican” (New York Puerto Rican) impact in the poetry community.

While there were times that the writing made me put down the book, the topic itself was interesting enough to keep me focused. Poets should definitely give this book a read. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

As someone who was enthralled by slam poetry in the early 2010s, I really enjoyed Spoken Word. Joshua Bennett goes back to slam poetry’s origins in the Black Arts movement to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and ending on Amanda Gorman’s performance at the 2021 presidential inauguration. I’d recommend anyone that picks this up to take their time with it and watch some performances of the poets mentioned.

Thank you to the author Joshua Bennett, publisher Alfred A. Knopf, and as always NetGalley, for a review digital copy of SPOKEN WORD: A CULTURAL HISTORY.

I need a glass of water because this text is *dry*.

The information contained within is interesting enough, but the delivery is difficult to consume. It reads like the worst of college textbooks-- piles of facts upon facts upon facts. I appreciate that this is technically a historical text, but it doesn't seem to appreciate the beauty of the artistic form it's surveying. It's too preoccupied with legitimizing it. And it's a shame, because Bennett shares some phenomenal work within this text, but never comments on it.

With rare exception, I struggled to connect with this text. As a poet and a fan of spoken word, I'm surprised this is the case.

Rating: 📓📓.5 / 5 text books
Recommend? Only for lit history fans
Finished: February 7 2023
Read this if you like:
📜 History
✒️ Poetry
🗣 Spoken word