Desperately Seeking Madonna: In Search of the Meaning of the World's Most Famous Woman

The wide range of sources from which music journalist Sexton has culled articles, cartoons and poems for this anthology is evidence of its diversity: it includes Mad magazine, YM , the National Review and Christianity and Crisis. With the exception of Henry Rollins's poem, in which he admits that Madonna arouses in him a desire to ``shop at Sears,'' the overly reverent pieces--such as Helen Gurley Brown's coy admission that she too is a material girl and Camille Paglia's predictable vision of Madonna as the only true feminist--have a stale flavor. On the other hand, Ruth Conniff's thoughtful essay should be the final word on Madonna as mere boy toy, and in a re-reading of Madonna's attitudes toward race and sexuality, bell hooks posits that Madonna's messages in these areas (as revealed by her treatment of employees in Truth or Dare ) are less benign than they seem. Sexton has the good sense not to take his subject too seriously, and so has included such gems as the results of a ``symposium survey'' that solicited opinions on Madonna's taste in men (``Yucky'') and bad things the participants had heard about the performer (``She's from Worcester, Mass.''). (Jan.)