In Rachel Rosenthal, editor Moira Roth brings together a powerful portrait of the woman the Village Voice calls "one of America's most intelligent, politically committed, and challenging performance artists." Featuring critical commentary, interviews, and photographs of Rosenthal's performances and collecting for the first time a selection of her writings (including the script of Rachel's Brain), the book captures the voice of a unique American artist. Inspired by theatrical writings of Antonin Artaud, Rosenthal's performance art blends music, words, images, and dance into ferociously moving works - a theater of cruelty tempered by love, fiercely intense yet unsentimentally hopeful. With her shaved head, elegant stature, and distinctive style, she has become an icon of the American avant garde - archetypal prophet, Artaudian snake charmer, and vengeful seer who chides humanity for its crimes against the earth and itself.