"[An] engaging and meticulously researched history . Like a good 19 century omniscient novelist, Butler hops seamlessly among his characters'' points of view while recounting their lives and times . Butler''s history is an indispensable account of a revolution in acting that ramified beyond the theater." -- Los Angeles Times "It''s hard to believe that a style of performance developed amid the turbulence of revolutionary Russia would change Hollywood forever, but the author Isaac Butler makes a compulsively readable case for just that in this ''biography'' of Method acting." -- The New York Times "Thoroughly engrossing . Butler makes an airtight case for the Method as an artistic revolution on par with other mid-century advances." -- The Boston Globe "Delicious, humane, probing, and beautifully researched, [ The Method is] a cultural history that reaches beyond its immediate subject to point at the currents moving under America herself." -- Vulture, Most Anticipated Books of 2022 "Butler''s lively, well-researched and marvelously readable book isn''t just for actors, but also for anyone who loves watching them .
The Method is a rich book, highly entertaining but also gratifyingly specific, about the point of connection between actor and observer, the lightning flash between us and them that, when it happens, is impossible to adequately describe or explain. If it''s grand, it''s also granular, a gift of humility drawn from an actor''s ego." -- Time Magazine "Intense, deeply researched, historically alert, well-written, eminently readable (and gossipy)." -- Wall Street Journal "Meticulous, immersive" -- The Atlantic "As Isaac Butler shows in his pitch-perfect ''biography'' of the acting method that has consumed generations of actors, the main thing to know about the Method is that it means different things to different people. Just like real people do." -- San Francisco Chronicle, Favorite Nonfiction of 2022 "Richly researched and rigorously argued, The Method is a guide to an American school of acting we understand very little for how much we talk about it." -- Vox, Best Books of 2022 "Butler knows how to liven up history by focusing on human personalities and foibles. Even as he writes about the various legends who sculpted modern acting, he never fails to find the humor and humanity in his subjects.
Seminal acting gurus like Konstantin Stanislavski and Stella Adler are giants, but Butler never loses sight of the fact that they were also goofy theater kids." -- Salon "Fascinating . an exhaustive yet never exhausting account of the system that would define the American stage and screen, all the while showing how the craft of acting-and our perception of that craft-has evolved over time." -- Vanity Fair, Best Books of 2022 "Expertly and exactingly told . Butler clearly parses the murky divisions that continue to define the Method, then and today." -- AV Club "Intelligent and entertaining . Butler''s appreciation of acting-and art in general-as an expression of the temper of its times brings welcome insights throughout the book. Like The World Only Spins Forward, the excellent oral history of Angels in America he coauthored, The Method gives us cultural history that''s both smart and wonderful fun to read.
" -- American Theatre "Butler accomplishes what the Method''s devotees sought to do in their performances, bringing color and dimension to figures who might have been boxed into archetypal roles (omniscient godhead or exploitative charlatan) and presenting them to us in all their brilliant, infuriating complexity. The scope of the book is sweeping, the figures entering and exiting the narrative often larger-than-life, but each quote and anecdote Butler chooses to include draws them close enough to touch." -- Bookforum "An engaging and accessible account of a niche, complicated subject . [Butlers that it means different things to different people. Just like real people do." -- San Francisco Chronicle, Favorite Nonfiction of 2022 "Richly researched and rigorously argued, The Method is a guide to an American school of acting we understand very little for how much we talk about it." -- Vox, Best Books of 2022 "Butler knows how to liven up history by focusing on human personalities and foibles. Even as he writes about the various legends who sculpted modern acting, he never fails to find the humor and humanity in his subjects.
Seminal acting gurus like Konstantin Stanislavski and Stella Adler are giants, but Butler never loses sight of the fact that they were also goofy theater kids." -- Salon "Fascinating . an exhaustive yet never exhausting account of the system that would define the American stage and screen, all the while showing how the craft of acting-and our perception of that craft-has evolved over time." -- Vanity Fair, Best Books of 2022 "Expertly and exactingly told . Butler clearly parses the murky divisions that continue to define the Method, then and today." -- AV Club "Intelligent and entertaining . Butler''s appreciation of acting-and art in general-as an expression of the temper of its times brings welcome insights throughout the book. Like The World Only Spins Forward, the excellent oral history of Angels in America he coauthored, The Method gives us cultural history that''s both smart and wonderful fun to read.
" -- American Theatre "Butler accomplishes what the Method''s devotees sought to do in their performances, bringing color and dimension to figures who might have been boxed into archetypal roles (omniscient godhead or exploitative charlatan) and presenting them to us in all their brilliant, infuriating complexity. The scope of the book is sweeping, the figures entering and exiting the narrative often larger-than-life, but each quote and anecdote Butler chooses to include draws them close enough to touch." -- Bookforum "An engaging and accessible account of a niche, complicated subject . [Butler> "Expertly and exactingly told . Butler clearly parses the murky divisions that continue to define the Method, then and today." -- AV Club "Intelligent and entertaining . Butler''s appreciation of acting-and art in general-as an expression of the temper of its times brings welcome insights throughout the book. Like The World Only Spins Forward, the excellent oral history of Angels in America he coauthored, The Method gives us cultural history that''s both smart and wonderful fun to read.
" -- American Theatre "Butler accomplishes what the Method''s devotees sought to do in their performances, bringing color and dimension to figures who might have been boxed into archetypal roles (omniscient godhead or exploitative charlatan) and presenting them to us in all their brilliant, infuriating complexity. The scope of the book is sweeping, the figures entering and exiting the narrative often larger-than-life, but each quote and anecdote Butler chooses to include draws them close enough to touch." -- Bookforum "An engaging and accessible account of a niche, complicated subject . [Butlers them close enough to touch." -- Bookforum "An engaging and accessible account of a niche, complicated subject . [Butlers that it means different things to different people. Just like real people do." -- San Francisco Chronicle, Favorite Nonfiction of 2022 "Richly researched and rigorously argued, The Method is a guide to an American school of acting we understand very little for how much we talk about it.
" -- Vox, Best Books of 2022 "Butler knows how to liven up history by focusing on human personalities and foibles. Even as he writes about the various legends who sculpted modern acting, he never fails to find the humor and humanity in his subjects. Seminal acting gurus like Konstantin Stanislavski and Stella Adler are giants, but Butler never loses sight of the fact that they were also goofy theater kids." -- Salon "Fascinating . an exhaustive yet never exhausting account of the system that would define the American stage and screen, all the while showing how the craft of acting-and our perception of that craft-has evolved over time." -- Vanity Fair, Best Books of 2022 "Expertly and exactingly told . Butler clearly parses the murky divisions that continue to define the Method, then and today." -- AV Club "Intelligent and entertaining .
Butler''s appreciation of acting-and art in general-as an expression of the temper of its times brings welcome insights throughout the book. Like The World Only Spins Forward, the excellent oral history of Angels in America he coauthored, The Method gives us cultural history that''s both smart and wonderful fun to read." -- American Theatre "Butler accomplishes what the Method''s devotees sought to do in their performances, bringing color and dimension to figures who might have been boxed into archetypal roles (omniscient godhead or exploitative charlatan) and presenting them to us in all their brilliant, infuriating complexity. The scope of the book is sweeping, the figures entering and exiting the narrative often larger-than-life, but each quote and anecdote Butler chooses to include draws them close enough to touch." -- Bookforum "An engaging and accessible account of a niche, complicated subject . [Butlers that it means different.