What do you think?
Rate this book
Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines
Anna Deavere Smith, the award-winning playwright and actor, has spent a lifetime listening—really listening—to the people around her. As a child in the segregated Baltimore of the early 1960s, Smith absorbed the words of her parents, teachers, neighbors—even train conductors—and realized that there was something more being communicated than the actual words:
The conductor's voice had a mild kind of grandeur that was a cousin to the vocal tones I had heard at funerals—"Ashes-to-ashes"—and at christenings and weddings. These are words that have been said many times, but the person who speaks them understands that each time it must be said as if it matters, because it does matter. We never know what lies ahead, and we never know what just happened, and all words must house respect of those two unknowns.
In Talk to Me, Smith looks back at a singular career as a seeker and interpreter of language in America, revealing the methodology behind her extraordinary search for the truth and nuances of verbal communication. For thirty years, the defining thesis of Smith's work has been that how we speak is just as important in communicating truth and identity as what we say. Everything from individual vocal tone to grammar, Smith demonstrates, can be as identifiable and revealing as a fingerprint. Her journey has taken her from the rarefied bastions of academia to riot-torn streets; she has conducted hundreds of interviews with subjects ranging from women prisoners to presidents of the United States. In 1995, her ongoing investigation led her to Washington, D.C. After all, what better place to wage an inquiry into the power of language and the language of power than in the city where "message" is a manufactured product? What happens when we as citizens accept—which we seem to be doing more and more—our chosen leaders' failure to tell the truth? And how can we know that we are hearing what Washington really has to say when everything we receive is filtered through the media?
Armed with a blazing intellect and a tape recorder, Smith tackled these questions head-on, conducting more than four hundred interviews with people both inside and outside the power structure of Washington. She recorded these sessions in her trademark verbatim transcripts, which include every tic and verbal utterance of her subjects. More than thirty of these remarkable documents appear in this book, including interviews with Bill Clinton, Anita Hill, Studs Terkel, George Bush, Mike McCurry, and Helen Thomas. After five years of searing investigation into the world of the politicians, spin doctors, and power brokers who are steering the course of our country from inside the beltway, Smith has come away with a revelatory assessment—by turns devastating and hopeful—of the lexicon of power and politics in America. Talk to Me is a landmark contribution from a woman whose pioneering insights into language speak volumes.
The conductor's voice had a mild kind of grandeur that was a cousin to the vocal tones I had heard at funerals—"Ashes-to-ashes"—and at christenings and weddings. These are words that have been said many times, but the person who speaks them understands that each time it must be said as if it matters, because it does matter. We never know what lies ahead, and we never know what just happened, and all words must house respect of those two unknowns.
In Talk to Me, Smith looks back at a singular career as a seeker and interpreter of language in America, revealing the methodology behind her extraordinary search for the truth and nuances of verbal communication. For thirty years, the defining thesis of Smith's work has been that how we speak is just as important in communicating truth and identity as what we say. Everything from individual vocal tone to grammar, Smith demonstrates, can be as identifiable and revealing as a fingerprint. Her journey has taken her from the rarefied bastions of academia to riot-torn streets; she has conducted hundreds of interviews with subjects ranging from women prisoners to presidents of the United States. In 1995, her ongoing investigation led her to Washington, D.C. After all, what better place to wage an inquiry into the power of language and the language of power than in the city where "message" is a manufactured product? What happens when we as citizens accept—which we seem to be doing more and more—our chosen leaders' failure to tell the truth? And how can we know that we are hearing what Washington really has to say when everything we receive is filtered through the media?
Armed with a blazing intellect and a tape recorder, Smith tackled these questions head-on, conducting more than four hundred interviews with people both inside and outside the power structure of Washington. She recorded these sessions in her trademark verbatim transcripts, which include every tic and verbal utterance of her subjects. More than thirty of these remarkable documents appear in this book, including interviews with Bill Clinton, Anita Hill, Studs Terkel, George Bush, Mike McCurry, and Helen Thomas. After five years of searing investigation into the world of the politicians, spin doctors, and power brokers who are steering the course of our country from inside the beltway, Smith has come away with a revelatory assessment—by turns devastating and hopeful—of the lexicon of power and politics in America. Talk to Me is a landmark contribution from a woman whose pioneering insights into language speak volumes.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2000
13 people are currently reading
279 people want to read
About the author
Anna Deavere Smith
23 books159 followersAnna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950) is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist in residence at the Center for American Progress. Smith is widely known for her roles as National Security Advisor Nancy McNally in The West Wing and as Hospital Administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. She is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013), one of the richest prizes in the American arts with a remuneration of $300,000.
In 2009 Smith published her first book, Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics. In 2006 she released another, Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts-For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind.
As a dramatist Smith was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for Fires in the Mirror which won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for Twilight: one for Best Actress and another for Best Play. The play won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Theatre World Award.
Smith was one of the 1996 recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the "genius grant." She also won a 2006 Fletcher Foundation Fellowship for her contribution to civil rights issues as well as a 2008 Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications, Inc. In 2009 she won a Fellow Award in Theater Arts from United States Artists.
She has received honorary degrees from Spelman College, Arcadia University, Bates College, Smith College, Skidmore College, Macalester College, Occidental College, Pratt Institute, Holy Cross College,[disambiguation needed] Haverford College, Wesleyan University, School of Visual Arts, Northwestern University, Colgate University, California State University Sacramento, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wheelock College, Williams College, and the Cooper Union.
The United Solo Theatre Festival board awarded her with uAward for outstanding solo performer during the inaugural edition in November 2010.
In 2013, she received the 2012 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.
In 2009 Smith published her first book, Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics. In 2006 she released another, Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts-For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind.
As a dramatist Smith was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for Fires in the Mirror which won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for Twilight: one for Best Actress and another for Best Play. The play won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Theatre World Award.
Smith was one of the 1996 recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the "genius grant." She also won a 2006 Fletcher Foundation Fellowship for her contribution to civil rights issues as well as a 2008 Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications, Inc. In 2009 she won a Fellow Award in Theater Arts from United States Artists.
She has received honorary degrees from Spelman College, Arcadia University, Bates College, Smith College, Skidmore College, Macalester College, Occidental College, Pratt Institute, Holy Cross College,[disambiguation needed] Haverford College, Wesleyan University, School of Visual Arts, Northwestern University, Colgate University, California State University Sacramento, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wheelock College, Williams College, and the Cooper Union.
The United Solo Theatre Festival board awarded her with uAward for outstanding solo performer during the inaugural edition in November 2010.
In 2013, she received the 2012 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 3, 2015
She's amazing; where I read her explanation of trochees (accent on the second beat), and how to listen for truth in people's stories. Transcripts of her interviews, she's a superstar. 2nd time I read it; first time was before grad school.
August 19, 2009
about the media, about the presidency, about authority, about d.c.
about our conversations, communication, and connection...or lack thereof.
about theater, about listening, about education, about race.
she weaves her personal story, her opinions, and directly transcribed interviews.
the timeline jumps back and forth, and some of her opinions seem to have more weight than others, more evidence, more backing.
good food for thought, even if some of it's unsettling.
about our conversations, communication, and connection...or lack thereof.
about theater, about listening, about education, about race.
she weaves her personal story, her opinions, and directly transcribed interviews.
the timeline jumps back and forth, and some of her opinions seem to have more weight than others, more evidence, more backing.
good food for thought, even if some of it's unsettling.
April 25, 2015
A 'documentary' on listening beyond the language being spoken. A must read for anyone interested in learning to hear what is really being said. This is one of a very few books I will read again. Highly recommend.
August 16, 2017
Review to come.
December 30, 2008
Excellent! She tracks her experience traveling with President Clinton on his campaign trail. She is brilliant (and has received one of those Genus Grants). She interviews well and I learned so much from this book about the process of interviewing. There are three questions that will ensure someone's syntax will chang ein the course of an hour interview:
1-Have you ever come close to death?
2-Do you know the circumstances of your birth?
3-Have you ever been accused of something that you did not do?
Also, asking people about their first day of school is a good question but not in her top three. What happens is people go into their natural language, the Trochee happens and the iamb pentameter goes upside down. They are in their original language and you are getting the story. This struck me powerfully, her insight, her skill as an interviewer.
She is a performer who presents voices of the people, she did her show "Twilight: Los Angeles" after the 1992 riots and her show "Fires in the Mirror" after the Crown Heights riots in Washington. For each of these she interviewed the people of these communities. I went to a production of Twilight in Seattle put on by the students at Univ of WA, they used several actors to do what Anna Deavere Smith did herself. The play is amazing in itself, and again shows her skills. When she came and spoke at the UW she did a series of voices, what an amazing actor and artist she is.
1-Have you ever come close to death?
2-Do you know the circumstances of your birth?
3-Have you ever been accused of something that you did not do?
Also, asking people about their first day of school is a good question but not in her top three. What happens is people go into their natural language, the Trochee happens and the iamb pentameter goes upside down. They are in their original language and you are getting the story. This struck me powerfully, her insight, her skill as an interviewer.
She is a performer who presents voices of the people, she did her show "Twilight: Los Angeles" after the 1992 riots and her show "Fires in the Mirror" after the Crown Heights riots in Washington. For each of these she interviewed the people of these communities. I went to a production of Twilight in Seattle put on by the students at Univ of WA, they used several actors to do what Anna Deavere Smith did herself. The play is amazing in itself, and again shows her skills. When she came and spoke at the UW she did a series of voices, what an amazing actor and artist she is.
April 30, 2016
I read this some years ago. Anna Deavere Smith is far more than the actress who plays Rainbow's mother on *Black-ish*. Smith is a thinker who travels and writes just to listen to people and learn from their stories. Everyone has a story. Listen...
May 25, 2017
So fascinating! And still relevant, even though she uses her experiences from the late 1990's. Smith is a national treasure. I hope she keeps on doing what she does and saves it all for us to ponder for years to come.
February 23, 2009
She is a fantastic playwright because she is so subtle about approaching issues. This, however, makes her writing a bit too meandering for my taste.
September 6, 2009
I'm reading this for class and I am really enjoying it!
September 19, 2012
Particularly interesting for her interviews with politicians
and the press around the election of 1996 and the lead-up to
2000. (The book was published in 2000.)
and the press around the election of 1996 and the lead-up to
2000. (The book was published in 2000.)
July 5, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. Having graduated from the same college the same year and now living in DC. It is like reading about the events swirling around me as I grew up.
May 9, 2017
Perhaps the best book on listening to people ever but encapsulated in Anna Deavere Smith's story of how she collects stories and then performs them!!
November 23, 2022
It's so interesting thinking about how the self lies not only in what we say but how we say it and what we don't say. In the pauses and broken sentences, the ums and uhs. I remember when I read this (it's been a while) I really focused on the idiosyncrasies of the speech patterns of those around me. I love the way Anna Deavere Smith takes the smallest things and shows just how important they are.
March 9, 2025
It's too diffused, unfocused to get a five but it got me thinking, several times, thus the 4 stars. Theater, truth, lies, the press. Clinton, ejaculation, le petit morte, the death wish, release of or throwing away of energy. Honest talk vs. presentation.
March 7, 2009
Yes! Very wonderful. Saw her also perform this live. Do read. Do find out more about Anna!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews