Join author Allyson McCabe as she discusses her book Why Sinead O’Connor Matters with Gayle Wald. This is an in-store event. Please register here.
A stirring defense of Sinéad O’Connor’s music and activism, and an indictment of the culture that cancelled her.
In 1990, Sinéad O’Connor’s video for “Nothing Compares 2 U” turned her into a superstar. Two years later, an appearance on Saturday Night Live turned her into a scandal. For many people—including, for years, the author—what they knew of O’Connor stopped there. Allyson McCabe believes it’s time to reassess our old judgments about Sinéad O’Connor and to expose the machinery that built her up and knocked her down.
Addressing triumph and struggle, sound and story, Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters argues that its subject has been repeatedly manipulated and misunderstood by a culture that is often hostile to women who speak their minds (in O’Connor’s case, by shaving her head, championing rappers, and tearing up a picture of the pope on live television). McCabe details O’Connor’s childhood abuse, her initial success, and the backlash against her radical politics without shying away from the difficult issues her career raises. She compares O’Connor to Madonna, another superstar who challenged the Catholic Church, and Prince, who wrote her biggest hit and allegedly assaulted her. A journalist herself, McCabe exposes how the media distorts not only how we see O’Connor but how we see ourselves, and she weighs the risks of telling a story that hits close to home.
In an era when popular understanding of mental health has improved and the public eagerly celebrates feminist struggles of the past, it can be easy to forget how O’Connor suffered for being herself. This is the book her admirers and defenders have been waiting for.
About the author:
Allyson McCabe is a writer, reporter, and producer whose work is often broadcast on NPR, and her byline appears in the New York Times, BBC Culture, Wired, and other publications.
About the moderator:
Gayle Wald is professor of American Studies at George Washington University. She is the author of three books, including Shout, Sister, Shout!, a biography of the rock-and-roll trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe (updated 2nd edition in 2023), and has published widely on pop music, from Riot Grrrl to boy bands and from Michael Jackson to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. She is a former editor of the Bloomsbury book series 33 1/3. She is currently writing a biography of the eminent children's musician Ella Jenkins for the University of Chicago Press.