The Freaks Came Out to Write

Starred review from November 27, 2023
Former Village Voice nightlife columnist Romano debuts with a phenomenal oral history of the alternative weekly from its founding in 1955 through the 2018 shutdown of editorial operations. Drawing on more than 200 interviews with Voice personnel, Romano explores the many vibrant personalities, colorful stories, and heated disputes that defined the publication. Founding editor-in-chief Dan Wolf is remembered for championing young writers who “were actually living what byline was about,” and cultural critic Greg Tate comes across as an erudite polymath whom features editor Lisa Kennedy credits for opening up “an incredible space for people to imagine writing whatever the fuck they wanted.” There’s no shortage of drama, such as when short-tempered jazz critic Stanley Crouch punched music writer Harry Allen over Allen’s defense of hip-hop (“In the interest of talking against the promotion of thuggish behavior, I smacked him,” Crouch says). Romano is unafraid to cast a critical eye, devoting a devastating chapter to the Voice’s scant early coverage of the AIDS epidemic; editor Richard Goldstein recalls that “there was a reluctance on the part of people to do something that was so negative about sex.” Brimming with riveting anecdotes and capturing its subject’s rollicking spirit, this is a remarkable portrait of the “nation’s first alternative newspaper.” Photos. Agent: Betsy Lerner, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.