The Method by Isaac Butler

National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2022 BY THE NEW YORKER,
TIME MAGAZINE, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, VOX, SALON, LIT HUB,
AND VANITY FAIR
Entertaining and illuminating." - The New Yorker * "Compulsively
readable." - New York Times * "Delicious, humane, probing." - Vulture *
"The best and most important book about acting I've ever read." -
Nathan Lane
The critically acclaimed cultural history of Method acting-an ebullient
account of creative discovery and the birth of classic Hollywood.
On stage and screen, we know a great performance when we see it. But how
do actors draw from their bodies and minds to turn their selves into art? What
is the craft of being an authentic fake? More than a century ago, amid tsarist
Russia's crushing repression, one of the most talented actors ever, Konstantin
Stanislavski, asked these very questions, reached deep into himself, and
emerged with an answer. How his "system" remade itself into the Method and
forever transformed American theater and film is an unlikely saga that has
never before been fully told.
Now, critic and theater director Isaac Butler chronicles the history of the
Method in a narrative that transports (...)

Isaac Butler is the coauthor (with Dan Kois) of The World Only Spins
Forward, which NPR named one of the best books of 2018. Butler's writing
has appeared in New York magazine, Slate, the Guardian, American Theatre,
and other publications. His work as a director has been seen on stages
throughout the United States. Butler holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from
the University of Minnesota and teaches theater history and performance at
the New School and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.

Bloomsbury
On Sale: Oct 17/23
5.51 x 8.25 • 512 pages
Images throughout and an 8pg b&w insert
9781639730766 • $26.99 • pb
Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism