Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class by Eric Lott

This monograph explores the idea that minstrel shows were more than just a reflection of a racist culture. In its deft analysis, this text uses the historical record, the content of the minstrel shows, and Freudian and Marxist strains of thought to explore the possibility that the content of minstrel shows reflected white, working class Americans' attraction to and theft of slave culture. The book does a good job both demonstrating the development and content of these shows and evaluating the class and racial tensions and relationships that made these kinds of entertainment both possible and enjoyable.