While most American historical books concentrate on just one period of time, one group of individuals or precisely one cultural event in American history, in Cowboys and Gangsters, we encounter quite a gripping set of bygone and cultural crossroads. Author Samuel K. Dolan, a movie director, documentary writer and producer, tells of both the last […]
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Author: Dr. A. Ebert
Groovy Science: Knowledge, Innovation, and American Counterculture by David Kaiser and W. Patrick Mc...
Even if today many fans (and critics) of the 1960s and 1970s and the “counterculture” hold the believe that this generation, and those involved in social change were mostly anti-scientific and anti-technology, this view of the era is largely wrong. We know for a fact that back then many alternative ways of coping with life, philosophy, […]
Vinyl Records and Analog Culture in the Digital Age: Pressing Matters by Paul E. Winters (2016)
Not just the die-hard fans and collectors of vinyl recordings will be interested in this new book by Paul E. Winters. Since actually the whole idea of conserving the products of popular culture (which includes recorded sound and music) is carefully examined here. This goes along with analysis of the marketing ideas and promises used […]
The Who and Philosophy by Rocco Gennaro and Casey Harison (eds.) (2016)
According to the editors, this is the first study of some philosophical aspects that are connected with the rock band The Who (while there already are many books that deal with meaning and criticism in the lyrics and works of other famous pop stars). Naturally, all the authors share a common admiration for the band […]
Cowboy Classics: The Roots of the American Western in the Epic Tradition by Kirsten Day (2016)
Kirsten Day’s title is the latest publication in the series ‘Screening Antiquity’ by Edinburgh University Press, the only series of academic monographs focusing on new research concerning the reception of the ancient world in film and television and the conception of antiquity in popular culture. At first, there would be reservations connecting the book’s title […]
Devil’s Music, Holy Rollers and Hillbillies: How America Gave Birth to Rock and Roll by James A. Cos
What historically led to the rise of American teenage youth culture and paved the way for rock’n’roll is the subject of James Cosby’s latest book. As examined against the subcultural background of post-war America, and the arrival of new musical impulses from African American culture, teenager’s unknown struggles for autonomy in an altogether anxious and […]
Out of the Past: Lacan and Film Noir by Ben Tyrer (2016)
There is little doubt today, that film noir research and the spread and development of psychoanalysis have boosted academic Film Studies to a large extent; for a short period in the early 1970s, the psychoanalytical approach to Film Studies even seemed to be the only method that brought results. For film and psychoanalysis had a […]
Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll by Peter Guralnick (2015)
When one of the best music writers around publishes a book on one of the most important producers/talent-scouts/music explorers ever, the result should be nothing but brilliant. And it actually is. Peter Guralnick must not be introduced, he wrote many excellent books on American music and its respective history, rooted and connected to the American […]
Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties by Bill Warren (2016)
The 1950s were a unique time when many aggressors, real and imaginative, seemingly threatened not only the people and the political system of the United States, but Earth itself. One product of these anxieties were science fiction movies that more often than not gave (not so pretty) faces and (not so nice) names to the […]