Popular culture Books

Table of ContentsContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Scandal in the News, Then and Now Whitewater, Where It All Began A Player in the Scandal Circus: January 13-15, 1998 "Something About Perjury": January 16, 1998 An Incredible Seven-Hour Dialogue: January 17, 1998 Enter Mr. Drudge: January 18, 1998 The Gathering Storm: January 19, 1998 The Ginsburg Quote: January 20, 1998 One Sexy Scoop: January 21, 1998 Stampede: January 22, 1998 Greenroom Chatterboxes: January 23, 1998 "Breaking News": January 24, 1998 Peekaboo: January 25, 1998 Gossip Masquerades As News Needed -- A Few Good Men and Women NotesIndex

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Book SynopsisKen Ivy reveals the unwritten rules that took him rfom the ghetto streets to the executive suites.

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Book SynopsisMaría del Pilar Blanco is University Lecturer in Spanish American Literature and Fellow of Trinity College, University of Oxford. She is the author of Ghost-Watching American Modernity: Haunting, Landscape, and the Hemispheric Imagination (2012). Esther Peeren is Assistant Professor in Literary Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She has published articles on Mikhail Bakhtin, queer television, translation theory and the chronotopic dimension of diaspora. Her first book, entitled Intersubjectivities and Popular Culture: Bakhtin and Beyond appeared in 2007 with Stanford University Press and she also co-edited a collection of essays entitled The Shock of the Other: Situating Alterities (2007). Currently, she is developing a project on spectrality in contemporary literature, television and film.Trade ReviewFrom Freud’s and Adorno’s rejection of the occult, to Derrida’s rehabilitation of the spectral turn, this volume presents a compelling argument for a continued interest in the noisy ghosts of our culture. Not content to limit their remit, the editors have chosen brilliant extracts that explore trauma, memory and history, tracing the spectral through literary theory and criticism, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and economics. It is a book which is strong enough to include an auto-critique of its structuring concept, while showing why that concept still remains vital today. An invaluable collection on the uncanny and the ghostly which should haunt its readers for years to come. * Dr. Pamela Thurschwell, Senior Lecturer, School of English, University of Sussex, UK *In this compelling anthology, editors María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren bring together core texts on the study of ghosts, spectres, and haunting as cultural manifestations ... A dynamic corpus of perspectives that challenges, and delights, with its range and depth -- Kirsten Møllegaard, University of Hawai’i at Hilo, USA * Folklore *The Spectralities Reader is a welcoming invitation to the recent séance with our unfinished past. Its editors prove to be perfect spirit guides, providing steely clarity to a realm that often befuddles and bewitches. -- Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies, University of Sussex, UKTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Permissions María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren, Introduction: Conceptualizing Spectralities I. The Spectral Turn María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren, The Spectral Turn / Introduction Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler, Spectrographies Colin Davis, État Présent: Hauntology, Spectres and Phantoms Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, from Introduction: The Spectral Turn Julian Wolfreys, Preface: On Textual Haunting Roger Luckhurst, from The Contemporary London Gothic and the Limits of the “Spectral Turn” II. Spectropolitics: Ghosts of the Global Contemporary María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren, Spectropolitics: Ghosts of the Global Contemporary / Introduction Avery F. Gordon, from her shape and his hand Achille Mbembe, from Life, Sovereignty, and Terror in the Fiction of Amos Tutuola Arjun Appadurai, Spectral Housing and Urban Cleansing: Notes on Millennial Mumbai Peter Hitchcock, from ( ) of Ghosts III. The Ghost in the Machine: Spectral Media María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren, The Ghost in the Machine: Spectral Media / Introduction Tom Gunning, To Scan a Ghost: The Ontology of Mediated Vision Jeffrey Sconce, from Introduction to Haunted Media Akira Mizuta Lippit, from Modes of Avisuality: Psychoanalysis – X-ray – Cinema David Toop, from Chair creaks, but no one sits there Allen S. Weiss, Preface: Radio Phantasms, Phantasmic Radio IV. Spectral Subjectivities: Gender, Sexuality, and Race María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren, Spectral Subjectivities: Gender, Sexuality, and Race / Introduction Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, from Ghostwriting Carla Freccero, Queer Spectrality: Haunting the Past Sharon Patricia Holland, from Introduction: Raising the Dead Renée L. Bergland, from Indian Ghosts and American Subjects V. Possessions: Spectral Places María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren, Possessions: Spectral Places / Introduction Anthony Vidler, Buried Alive Ulrich Baer, To Give Memory a Place: Contemporary Holocaust Photography and the Landscape Tradition David Matless, A Geography of Ghosts: The Spectral Landscapes of Mary Butts Giorgio Agamben, On the Uses and Disadvantages of Living among Specters VI. Haunted Historiographies María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren, Haunted Historiographies / Introduction Judith Richardson, A History of Unrest Jesse Alemán, The Other Country: Mexico, the United States, and the Gothic History of Conquest Alexander Nemerov, Seeing Ghosts: The Turn of the Screw and Art History Index

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Book SynopsisA bold new challenge to postmodern theory The increasing irrelevance of postmodernism requires a new theory to underpin our current digital culture. Almost without anybody noticing, a new cultural paradigm has taken center stage, displacing an exhausted and increasingly marginalized postmodernism. Alan Kirby calls this cultural paradigm digimodernism, a name comprising both its central technical mode and the privileging of fingers and thumbs inherent in its use. Beginning with the Internet (digimodernism''s most important locus), then taking into account television, cinema, computer games, music, radio, etc., Kirby analyzes the emergence and implications of these diverse media, coloring our cultural landscape with new ideas on texts and how they work. This new kind of text produces distinctive forms of author and reader/viewer, which, in turn, lead to altered notions of authority, ''truth'' and legitimization. With users intervening physically in the creatiTrade Review[Digimodernism] provides a convincing explanation for the plethora of cultural phenomena and practices Kirby groups under digimodernism… Kirby’s concepts and examples offer a challenging new lens through which to investigate the world. -- Catriona Bonfiglioli, Media Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia * Discourse & Communication *Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The Arguable Death of Postmodernism; 2. The Digimodernist Text; 3. A Prehistory of Digimodernism; 4. Digimodernism and Web 2.0; 5. Digimodernist Aesthetics; 6. Digimodernist Culture; 7. Toward a Digimodernist Society?; Conclusion - Endless; Notes; Works Cited.

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Book SynopsisPopular representations of the Vietnam War tend to emphasize violence, deprivation, and trauma. By contrast, in Armed with Abundance, Meredith Lair focuses on the noncombat experiences of US soldiers in Vietnam, redrawing the landscape of the war so that swimming pools, ice cream, visits from celebrities, and other ""comforts"" share the frame with combat.

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Trade ReviewThe book is a smoothly written, highly accessible and, above all, richly informative text that addresses a crucial gap in scholarly knowledge and offers some unexpected food for thought. * Studies in Costume and Performance *This is a very interesting book ... It provides a chain of interesting ideas that invite reflection on the relationship between the fact and fiction of superhero costumes, and give some useful hints of what to consider when designing costumes for superhero characters. * The Comics Grid *A rigorous and wide-ranging exploration of this important topic. * Mike Carey, comic book writer *Smart and accessible, Brownie and Graydon’s exploration of the superhero costume is a welcome addition to the fields of media, sociology, cultural studies and politics. Meticulous analysis of well-selected case studies is situated within a lively discussion of contemporary identity politics, reminding readers of popular culture’s important role in organizing our understanding of the world, and our place within it. * Helen Warner, University of East Anglia, UK *Accessible and academic — this research explores the familiar images of superhero appearances, diving into layers of meaning in the logos, tights, and vivid colors. What is revealed is the powerful relationship between the costume, the wearer, and the popular image. * Monica Sklar, University of Minnesota, USA *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction Part 1: Origins and Evolution Chapter 1: Superman: Codifying the Superhero Wardrobe Physical Labour and the Construction of Masculinity Performance in Combat The Costume as Biography Superman the Brand The Archetype and his Imitators Chapter 2: Identity, Role and The Mask The Mask and Issues of Identity The Identity of the Mask Power, Authority and the Privileged Few Face-ism How Dress Defines Role The Deceit of the Masquerade Chapter 3: Evolution and Adaptation: Form v. Function ‘Sucked Into Silliness’ Real-life References: The historical and the sporting. Technology and Utility The Pursuit of Credibility: Hyperrealism and assemblage The Decline of the Costume Part 2: Identities and Ideals Chapter 4: Wearing The Flag: Patriotism and globalization Stars and Stripes… and Spandex Conflicted Identities: Nation v. Race Exoticism and Primitivism in Batman Incorporated Chapter 5: Dressing Up, Dressing Down: A Spectacle of Otherness, and the Ordinariness of the Civilian Alter-ego Performing Ordinariness Playing to the Reader Unmasking Clark Kent Self-Objectification Method in the Masquerade Chapter 6: Channelling The Beast Physiognomy and Anthrozoomorphism The Bird Men Ritual and the Animal Spirit Part 3: Harsh Realities Chapter 7: Superheroes and the Fashion of Being Unfashionable Fashion Outsiders The Gender Divide The Cycle of Superhero Fashion Evolution into Eternity Chapter 8: Superhero Cosplay Participatory Fandom / Imaginative Reconstruction ‘I’m your biggest fan’: Competition and Authenticity Spectatorship and the Cosplay Spectacle Sewing and Making: Masculinity and Manufacture Chapter 9: Real-life Superheroes Masked Vigilantes and The Reality of Costumes Masks and Manifestos Parent Power Part 4: Case Studies Introduction to Case Studies Chapter 10: Watchmen Deconstructing the Costume Men without Humanity Masks without Men Chapter 11: Iron Man Who is Iron Man? Automated Dressing The Hyper-abled Hero Chapter 12: X-Men Uniforms and Unity The Yellow ‘X’: Marking the Mutant ‘Other’ Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisTells the story of one of the most notorious figures in the history of popular music, Morris Levy (1927-1990). At age nineteen, he cofounded the nightclub Birdland in Hell's Kitchen, which became the home for a new musical style, bebop. In 1957, he founded a record label, Roulette Records. Roulette featured many of the significant jazz artists who played Birdland but also scored top pop hits.Trade ReviewOne of Steven van Zandt’s picks for his ten favorite music books of 2016""[A] colorful account of that sinister svengali, Morris Levy. . . . Carlin’s concise narrative successfully arcs Levy’s rags to riches rise."" - Mike Jurkovic, Elmore""Scrupulously even-handed, Carlin eschews the sensational in favor of sober business history, meticulously detailing key aspects of Levy’s forty-year career."" - Jonathan Karp, Jewish Review of Books""Four stars. Richard Carlin’s brilliant research digs up intriguing stories. . . . Totally fascinating."" - Fred Dellar, Mojo""Richard Carlin has written an eye-opening, behind-the-scenes study of jazz and popular music through the fascinating (and checkered) career of Morris Levy. Digging deep into a variety of sources, Carlin has added fascinating, often highly personal, details to the history of popular music during the latter half of the twentieth century. This is a messy and revealing story, with an assortment of criminal types and sprinkled with many interesting photos."" - Ronald D. Cohen, editor of Alan Lomax, Assistant in Charge: The Library of Congress Letters, 1935–1945, published by University Press of Mississippi""The FBI always figured Morris Levy was the front man for the syndicate in the record business. This beloved, feared music man finally gets the epic biography he deserves in Richard Carlin’s fascinating Godfather of the Music Business."" - Joel Selvin, author of Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues

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Book SynopsisDemonstrates how the works of both L. Frank Baum and Aleksandr Volkov evolved from being popular children's literature and became compelling and enduring cultural icons in both the US and USSR / Russia, despite being dismissed and ignored by critics, scholars, and librarians for many years.

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Book SynopsisScarce attention has been paid to the dimension of sound and its essential role in constructing image, culture, and identity in Chinese film and media. China in the Mix fills a critical void with the first book on the sound, languages, scenery, media, and culture in post-Socialist China.

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Book SynopsisMany works of American film history only skim the surface of the 1941 investigation of Hollywood. In Hollywood Hates Hitler!, Chris Yogerst examines the years leading up to and through the Senate Investigation into Motion Picture War Propaganda, detailing isolationist senators' relationship with the America First movement.

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Book SynopsisOffers a review of the history of Tarot from its roots as a game to its supposed connection to ancient Egyptian magic, through its place in secret societies, and to its current use in meditation and psychology. Specific areas of popular culture - art, television, movies, and comics - are each given a chapter in which to survey the use of Tarot.

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Book SynopsisAn anthology of critical essays, this volume introduces a new group of fiction writers from the American South. These fresh voices, like their twentieth-century predecessors, examine what it means to be a southerner in the modern world.

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Book SynopsisIn the late 1950s, Ted Geisel took on the challenge of creating a book using only 250 unique first-grade words, something that aspiring readers would have both the ability and the desire to read. The result was an unlikely children''s classic, The Cat in the Hat. But Geisel didn''t stop there. Using The Cat in the Hat as a template, he teamed with Helen Geisel and Phyllis Cerf to create Beginner Books, a whole new category of readers that combined research-based literacy practices with the logical insanity of Dr. Seuss. The books were an enormous success, giving the world such authors and illustrators as P. D. Eastman, Roy McKie, and Stan and Jan Berenstain, and beloved bestsellers such as Are You My Mother?; Go, Dog. Go!; Put Me in the Zoo; and Green Eggs and Ham. The story of Beginner Books--and Ted Geisel''s role as president, policymaker, and editor of the line for thirty years--has been told briefly in various biographies of Dr. Seuss, but I Can Read It All by Myself: Th

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Book SynopsisRobert Kirkman (b. 1978) is probably best known as the creator of The Walking Dead, yet Kirkman represents much more than this single comic book title. Robert Kirkman: Conversations gives insight to his journey and explores technique, creativity, collaboration, and the business of comics as a multimedia phenomenon.

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Book SynopsisBlack Panther is one of the most successful and culturally impactful films to emerge from the American film industry in recent years. Terence McSweeney explores the film from a range of perspectives, seeing it not only as a comic book adaptation and a superhero film, but also a dynamic contribution to African and African American studies.

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Book SynopsisSelling Folk Music: An Illustrated History highlights commercial sources that reveal how folk music has been packaged and sold to a broad, shifting audience in the United States. Folk music has a varied and complex scope and lineage, including the blues, minstrel tunes, Victorian parlor songs, spirituals and gospel tunes, country and western songs, sea shanties, labor and political songs, calypsos, pop folk, folk-rock, ethnic, bluegrass, and more. The genre is of major importance in the broader spectrum of American music, and it is easy to understand why folk music has been marketed as America''s music. Selling Folk Music presents the public face of folk music in the United States via its commercial promotion and presentation throughout the twentieth century. Included are concert flyers; sheet music; book, songbook, magazine, and album covers; concert posters and flyers; and movie lobby cards and posters, all in their original colors. The 1964 hootenanny craze, for eTrade ReviewThe work will underline the importance of such sources and perhaps encourage their preservation.

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Book SynopsisThe first book devoted to the musicals of Daryl F. Zanuck. The volume spotlights how he placed his personal imprint on the genre and how - especially at Twentieth Century-Fox - he nurtured and showcased several blonde female stars who headlined the studio’s musicals.

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Book SynopsisProvides a peek into a world struggling through the civil rights movement, reeling from the death of JFK, and cutting loose with the musical innovations from Memphis and Detroit. This story, marked with tragedy and triumph, mirrors that of a growing and evolving South, where change never comes easy.

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Book SynopsisBrings together interviews from newspapers, magazines, and podcasts conducted throughout Joe R. Lansdale’s career. The collection includes conversations between Lansdale and other noted peers like Robert McCammon and James Grady; two podcast transcripts that have never before appeared in print; and a brand-new interview, exclusive to the volume.

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Book Synopsis The shocking true crime story of a beloved Hollywood star gone too soon—told by the captain of the boat on which Natalie Wood spent her last night.   Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour is the long-awaited, detailed account of events that led to the mysterious death of Hollywood legend Natalie Wood off the coast of Catalina Island on November 28, 1981. It is a story told by a haunted witness to that fateful evening: Dennis Davern, the young captain of Splendour, the yacht belonging to Wood and husband Robert Wagner. Davern initially backed up Wagner’s version of that evening’s events through a signed statement prepared by attorneys. But Davern’s guilt over failing Natalie tormented him.   Davern reached out to his old friend Marti Rulli, and little by little, at his own emotional pace, he revealed the details of his years in Wood’s employ, of the fateful weekend that Natalie died, and of the eve

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Book SynopsisAlexis Luko is Professor of Musicology and the Director of the School of Music at the University of Victoria, Canada. She is the author of Sonatas, Screams, and Silence: Music and Sound in the Films of Ingmar Bergman (2016).James K. Wright is Professor of Music in the School for Studies in Art and Culture and the College of Humanities at Carleton University, Canada. A McGill University Governor General's Gold Medal recipient, his publications include two award-winning books on Arnold Schoenberg, and They Shot, He Scored (2019), a monograph on the life and work of the prolific film composer Eldon Rathburn.Trade ReviewWe hate monsters, but we need them, and that’s what makes them so endlessly fascinating. For those who take monstrosity seriously, this collection of essays—with topics ranging from Frankenstein’s celebrated creature to werewolves and wraiths—offers plenty of food for thought. * James Wierzbicki, author of Film Music: A History *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: Frankenstein in Film, Theatre, Music, Comics and Visual Art 1. Frankenstein’s Frontispiece, the Missing Phallus and the Pornographer: The Alchemy of Conceiving Monstrosities Marie Mulvey-Roberts, University of the West of England, UK 2. Monstrous Encounters: The Aesthetic Psychology of Screen Frankensteins Kevin J. Donnelly, University of Southampton, UK 3. Frankenstein and the Media of Serial Figures Shane Denson, Stanford University, USA 4. Musical Directions, Sound and Song in Presumption, or the Fate of Frankenstein (1823) John Higney, Carleton University, Canada 5. Birth of a ‘Miserable Monster’: The Theatricality of Male Self-Procreation in Stage and Screen Adaptations of Frankenstein André Loiselle, St. Thomas University, Canada 6. Excising the Repulsive: Mysticism and Psychology in Edison’s Frankenstein (1910) Ethan Towns, Trent University, Canada 7. Frankenstein’s Organ Transplant: Adaptation in Afro-Futurist and Electronic Dance Musics Mark McCutcheon, Athabaska University, Canada Part II: Monstrosity in Music, Film and Video Games 8. Monstrosity as a Queer Aesthetic Lloyd Whitesell, McGill University, Canada 9. Twelve-tone Terror: Representing Horror and Monstrosity in Dodecaphonic Film Music James K. Wright, Carleton University, Canada 10. The Horror, the Horror! White Women are the True Monsters in Jordan Peele’s Get Out Frederick W. Gooding, Jr., Texas Christian University, USA 11. Indigeneity as Monstrosity in The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake Murray Leeder, University of Manitoba, Canada 12. A 'Distaste for. . . Allegory' or: In the Bowels of Horror Daniel Humphrey, Texas A&M University, USA 13.Tragic Wraiths, Seductive Sirens and Man-Eating Vampires: Female Monstrosity in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Video Game Sarah Stang, Brock University, Canada Acknowledgements Bibliography Filmography Index

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Book SynopsisPublished in 1959, this book is what Vincent Price called his “visual autobiography” — the story of his life through his 48th year as seen through the lens of his greatest passion, the visual arts. Peppered with lively stories about both his art collecting and advocacy as well as his career as an actor, I Like What I Know is written in an approachable and entertaining style, capturing what has drawn fans to Vincent Price throughout his distinguished 65-year-career and in the two decades since his death in 1993.

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Book SynopsisWhy do people ride motorcycles? Thomas Krens, curator of The Art of the Motorcycle, the most popular exhibition ever mounted at the Guggenheim Museum, writes: "For much of society, the motorcycle remains a forbidden indulgence, an object of fantasy, and danger." And of envy. No other machine is thought of as the vehicle--"the perfect vehicle" Melissa Holbrook Pierson calls it--of rebellion, lawlessness, and freedom. She's A Bad Motorcycle collects the writings of those who have sought that freedom. From the genre-defining--and exploding--Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to Chasing Che the motorcycle has inspired a startlingly rich, unabashedly romantic body of writing that celebrates the risks and exhilaration of the journey to self-discovery. The book includes selections from Eric Burdon, Harry Crews, Harlan Ellison, Robert E. Fulton, Jr., Che Guevara, Fred Haefele, S.E. Hinton, Dennis Hopper, Richard La Plante, Erika Lopez, Horace McCoy, Allen Noren, Robert Pirsig, Gary Paulsen, Melissa Holbrook Pierson, Patrick Symmes, Keith Tye, Hunter S. Thompson, Lois Wilson, Daniel R. Wolf and Tom Wolfe, as well as photographs by Bruce Davidson, Martin Dixon, Ann Ferrar, Danny Lyon, Helge Pedersen, and Irving Penn.

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Book SynopsisToo often remembered solely as the psychiatrist and cultural critic whose testimony in Senate subcommittees sparked the creation of the Comics Code, Fredric Wertham was a far more complex man. Author Bart Beaty traces the evolution of Wertham's attitudes toward popular culture and reassesses his place in the debate about pop culture's effects on youth and society. When The Seduction of the Innocent was published in 1954, Wertham (1895-1981) became instantly known as an authority on child psychology. Although he had published several books before Seduction, its sharp criticism of popular culture in general--and comic books in particular--made it a touchstone for debate about issues of censorship, child protection, and freedom of speech. Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture, a fresh perspective on Wertham's career, reinterprets his intellectual legacy and challenges notions about his alleged cultural conservatism. Drawing upon Wertham's published works as well as his unpublished private papers, correspondence, and notes, Beaty reveals a man whose opinions, life, and career offer more subtlety of thought than previously assumed. In particular, the book examines Wertham's change of heart in the 1970s, when he began to claim that comics could be a positive influence in American society. The Wertham that emerges is a critic who was significantly more progressive and multifaceted than his reputation would suggest. Bart Beaty is associate professor of communication and culture at the University of Calgary. His work has been published in the Comics Journal, International Journal of Comic Art, Canadian Journal of Communication, Essays in Canadian Writing, and Canadian Review of American Studies.

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