Winner - 2022 Deems Taylor / Virgil Thomson Book Awards in Pop from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers

Bert Williams—a Black man forced to perform in blackface who challenged the stereotypes of minstrelsy. Eva Tanguay—an entertainer with the signature song “I Don’t Care” who flouted the rules of propriety to redefine womanhood for the modern age. Julian Eltinge—a female impersonator who entranced and unnerved audiences by embodying the feminine ideal Tanguay rejected. At the turn of the twentieth century, they became three of the most provocative and popular performers in vaudeville, the form in which American mass entertainment first took shape.

A Revolution in Three Acts explores how these vaudeville stars defied the standards of their time to change how their audiences thought about what it meant to be American, to be Black, to be a woman or a man. The writer David Hajdu and the artist John Carey collaborate in this work of graphic nonfiction, crafting powerful portrayals of Williams, Tanguay, and Eltinge to show how they transformed American culture. Hand-drawn images give vivid visual form to the lives and work of the book’s subjects and their world.

This book is at once a deft telling of three intricately entwined stories, a lush evocation of a performance milieu with unabashed entertainment value, and an eye-opening account of a key moment in American cultural history with striking parallels to present-day questions of race, gender, and sexual identity.

"After this wonderfully illustrated account, you’ll . . . be able to name three of the best [vaudeville performers], each of whom grappled with Blackness, gender, or sexual identity while entertaining the greedy masses." - Neil Patrick Harris's Wondercade

"A wonderful example of the ability of comics to present and bring to life little-known histories—the fact that the creators made it all feel relevant to modern times makes it downright valuable." - The Comics Journal's Best Comics of 2021

"Music critic Hajdu and artist Carey recapture the bygone days of vaudeville, bringing to fresh light and life the stories of three transgressive performers in this entertaining graphic group biography . . . The history is relayed via robust storytelling, combining a little-remembered piece of showbiz history with insights into the ways in which entertainment both reflects and shapes American cultural life and values." - Publishers Weekly

"This is an extremely remarkable comic, at once a historical look at the great and hugely popular genre of vaudeville, and a treatment of the margins, racial and gender, that pushed closer to the surface than radio or films would reach before the 1950s . . . The high spirits of these three characters, the visions they had of themselves and the crushing reality of a world unsuited for them, comes home collectively as we follow their lives." - Comics Grinder

"Neither revolution nor radical are terms commonly associated with vaudeville. Yet Hajdu and Carey effectively illuminate the significance of three trailblazers who merit such rhetoric and who have been largely forgotten since vaudeville lost its audience to the movies . . . Hajdu’s lively scholarship and critical perspective match Carey’s spirited renderings, which range from ebullience to devastation. A sharp account that brings life and light to a period that has gone dark in popular memory." - Kirkus Reviews

"A Revolution in Three Acts is an incredible work of historical scholarship, entertainment, and artistry." - Foreword Reviews

"In this fabulously illustrated graphic novel, writer David Hajdu and artist John Carey bring to life three of the most enigmatic and unique entertainers of the vaudeville era . . . Although I would say it achieves an even loftier goal — capturing the spirit of vaudeville itself, the stage as a laboratory of cultural experimentation." - Bowery Boys

"Hajdu offers a clear history with humor and research that makes the book fun and informative, with lovely illustrations by Carey." - San Francisco Book Review

"[This] book serves up a fun mix of historical fact, art, and fiction." - The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era