New Books in Popular Culture

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New Books in Popular Culture

New Books in Pop Culture is an author-interview podcast channel that showcases recently-published bo

New Books in Pop Culture is part of the New Books Network author-interview podcast consortium (http://www.newbooksnetwork.com)

01/07/2022

In 1940, Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey built two bikes, packed what they could, and fled wartime Paris. Among the possessions they escaped with was a manuscript that would later become one of the most celebrated books in children’s literature—Curious George. Since his debut in 1941, the mischievous icon has only grown in popularity. After being captured in Africa by the Man in the Yellow Hat and taken to live in the big city’s zoo, Curious George became a symbol of curiosity, adventure, and exploration. In CURIOUS about GEORGE: Curious George, Cultural Icons, Colonialism, and US Exceptionalism (University Press of Mississippi), author Rae Lynn Schwartz-DuPre argues that the beloved character also performs within a narrative of racism, colonialism, and heroism. Learn more on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/curious-about-george

30/06/2022

Stories of world-ending catastrophe have featured prominently in film and television lately. Zombie apocalypses, climate disasters, alien invasions, global pandemics, and dystopian world orders fill our screens—typically with a singular figure or tenacious group tasked with saving or salvaging the world. In her new book, APOCALYPSE and HEROISM in POPULAR CULTURE: Allegories of White Masculinity in Crisis (McFarland Press), Katherine E. Sugg asks, why are stories of End Times crisis so popular with audiences? And why is the hero so often a white man who overcomes personal struggles and major obstacles to lead humanity toward a restored future?

This book examines the familiar trope of the hero and the recasting of contemporary anxieties in films and TV like The Walking Dead, Snowpiercer, Mad Max: Fury Road, and more. Some have familiar roots in Western cultural traditions, yet many question popular assumptions about heroes and heroism to tell new and fascinating stories about race, gender and society, and the power of individuals to change the world. Author-interview podcast link 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/apocalypse-and-heroism-in-popular-culture

22/06/2022

Image by image and hashtag by hashtag, Instagram has redefined the ways we relate to food. Emily J. H. Contois and Zenia Kish edit contributions that explore the massively popular social media platform as a space for self-identification, influence, transformation, and resistance. Artists and journalists join a wide range of scholars to look at food’s connection to Instagram from vantage points as diverse as Hong Kong’s camera-centric foodie culture, the platform’s long history with feminist eateries, and the photography of Australia’s livestock producers. What emerges is a portrait of an arena where people do more than build identities and influence. Users negotiate cultural, social, and economic practices in a place that, for all its democratic potential, reinforces entrenched dynamics of power.

Interdisciplinary in approach and transnational in scope, FOOD INSTAGRAM: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation (U Illinois Press) offers general readers and experts alike new perspectives on an important social media space and its impact on a fundamental area of our lives. Learn more on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/food-instagram

10/06/2022

Edward Anthony Avery-Natale's book ETHICS, POLITICS, and ANARCHO-PUNK IDENTIFICATIONS: Punk and Anarchy in Philadelphia (Rowman & Littlefield) explores the ways in which those who identify as punks and anarchists living in the Philadelphia area construct their identifications narratively through the use of ethics. The book shows that contemporary subcultural and political identifications are complicated by the multiplicity of identifications that postmodern subjects must work from. Throughout the book, it is shown that narrators strive to maintain the coherence of their identifications through narrative reconciliations of contradictions and conflicts. The identity label "anarcho-punk" is of particular salience here, as the hyphenation of the two terms, itself a central component of the book's analysis, forefronts the multiple nature of the identification on the whole. This makes anarcho-punk a particularly interesting identity to study because there we can see clearly the complicated nature of identities in the contemporary age most clearly. Learn more on the author-interview podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/ethics-politics-and-anarcho-punk-identifications

08/06/2022

The movement has forced many fans to consider what they should do when they learn that a beloved artist has acted immorally. One natural thought is that fans ought to give up the artworks of immoral artists, but according to Mary Beth Willard, it’s hard to find good reasons to do so. In WHY IT'S OKAY TO ENJOY THE WORK OF IMMORAL ARTISTS (Routledge Creative Media & the Arts), she contends that because most boycotts of artists won’t succeed, there’s no ethical reason to do so most of the time. She then argues that canceling artists is ethically risky because it encourages moral grandstanding.

In this interview, Allison Leigh talks to Mary Beth Willard about the differences between enjoyment and engagement when it comes to immoral artists, as well as whether we should enjoy artworks that have immoral outlooks and behaviors embedded in them. Their conversation ranges from the problems associated with collective versus individual actions, the positive effects that giving up the work of immoral artists may have for shifting cultural norms, and the distinction between public and private enjoyment. Tune in 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/why-its-ok-to-enjoy-the-work-of-immoral-artists

07/06/2022

For centuries, Comanches have captivated imaginations. Yet their story in popular accounts abruptly stops in 1875, when the last free Comanches entered a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. In CINEMATIC COMANCHES: The Lone Ranger in the Media Borderlands (University of Nebraska Press), the first tribal-specific history of Comanches in film and media, Quanah Parker descendant Dustin Tahmahkera examines how Comanches represent themselves and are represented by others in recent media. Telling a story of Comanche family and extended kin and their relations to film, Tahmahkera reframes a distorted and defeated history of Comanches into a vibrant story of cinematic traditions, agency, and cultural continuity. Give the author's NBN interview a listen ⬇️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/cinematic-comanches

01/06/2022

It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women--each an independent visionary-- saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch tv today.

Irna Phillips turned real-life tragedy into daytime serials featuring female dominated casts. Gertrude Berg turned her radio show into a Jewish family comedy that spawned a play, a musical, an advice column, a line of house dresses, and other products. Hazel Scott, already a renowned musician, was the first African American to host a national evening variety program. Betty White became a daytime talk show fan favorite and one of the first women to produce, write, and star in her own show. Together, their stories chronicle a forgotten chapter in the history of television and popular culture.

But as the medium became more popular--and lucrative--in the wake of World War II, the House Un-American Activities Committee arose to threaten entertainers, blacklisting many as communist sympathizers. As politics, sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, and money collided, the women who invented television found themselves fighting from the margins, as men took control. But these women were true survivors who never gave up--and thus their legacies remain with us in our television-dominated era. It's time we reclaimed their forgotten histories and the work they did to pioneer the medium that now rules our lives.

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's WHEN WOMEN INVENTED TELEVISION: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today (Harper Books) is an amazing and heartbreaking history, illustrated with photos, tells it all for the first time. Learn more on the author-interview podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/when-women-invented-television

25/05/2022

Popular representations of the past are everywhere in Japan, from cell phone charms to manga, from television dramas to video games to young people dressed as their favorite historical figures hanging out in the hip Harajuku district. But how does this mass consumption of the past affect the way consumers think about history and what it means to be Japanese?

By analyzing representations of the famous sixteenth-century samurai leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi in historical fiction based on Taikōki, the original biography of him, this book explores how and why Hideyoshi has had a continued and ever-changing presence in popular culture in 20th- and 21st-century Japan. The multiple fictionalized histories of Hideyoshi published as serial novels and novellas before, during, and after World War II demonstrate how imaginative re-presentations of Japan’s past have been used by various actors throughout the modern era.

In TTHE AFTERLIFE of TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI: Historical Fiction and Popular Culture in Japan (Harvard University Press), Susan Furukawa discovers a Hideyoshi who is always changing to meet the needs of the current era, and in the process expands our understanding of the powerful role that historical narratives play in Japan. Listen in ⤵️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-afterlife-of-toyotomi-hideyoshi

04/05/2022

Curtis Mayfield. The Chi-Lites. Chaka Khan. Chicago’s place in the history of soul music is rock solid. But for Chicagoans, soul music in its heyday from the 1960s to the 1980s was more than just a series of hits: it was a marker and a source of black empowerment.

In MOVE ON UP: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power (University of Chicago Press), Aaron Cohen tells the remarkable story of the explosion of soul music in Chicago. Drawing on more than 100 interviews and a music critic’s passion for the unmistakable Chicago soul sound, Cohen shows us how soul music became the voice of inspiration and change for a city in turmoil. Check out his NBN interview ⤵️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/move-on-up

29/04/2022

In 1997 sixty-two containers fell off the cargo ship Tokio Express after it was hit by a rogue wave off the coast of Cornwall, including one container filled with nearly five million pieces of Lego, much of it sea themed. In the months that followed, beachcombers started to find Lego washed up on beaches across the south west coast. Among the pieces they discovered were octopuses, sea grass, spear guns, life rafts, scuba tanks, cutlasses, flippers and dragons. The pieces are still washing up today. ADRIFT: The Curious Tale of the Lego Lost at Sea (Unicorn) is a colourfully illustrated and engaging tale, for all ages, of the Lego pieces and the stories behind their continuing discovery by beachcombers and fishermen. Learn more on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/adrift

26/04/2022

The first in a new LSU Press series exploring facets of Louisiana’s iconic culture, MARDI GRAS BEADS delves into the history of this celebrated New Orleans artifact, explaining how Mardi Gras beads came to be in the first place and how they grew to have such an outsize presence in New Orleans celebrations. It explores their origins before WWI through their ascent to the premier parade catchable by the Depression era. Listen inas Doug MacCash explores, inter alia, the manufacture of Mardi Gras beads in places as far-flung as the Sudetenland, India, and Japan, and traces the shift away from glass beads to the modern, disposable plastic versions on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/mardi-gras-beads

18/04/2022

Written in straightforward, jargon-free language, A CONCISE HISTORY of COMICS (University Press of Mississippi ) is especially useful for critics, students, teachers, and researchers, and a vital reference to anyone else who wants to learn more about comics. Learn more about this wittily illustrated dictionary that doubles as a compendium of comics scholarship as Nancy Pedri joins us on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/a-concise-dictionary-of-comics

15/04/2022

In the late ’90s, third-wave ska broke across the American alternative music scene like a tsunami. In sweaty clubs across the nation, kids danced themselves dehydrated to the peppy rhythms and punchy horns of bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish. As ska caught fire, a swing revival brought even more sharp-dressed, brass-packing bands to national attention. Kenneth Partridge's HELL of a HIGH HAT: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing (Penn State University Press ) dives deep into this unique musical moment. Listen in as Partridge fills us in on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/hell-of-a-hat

23/03/2022

West Coast hip hop means much more than LA, argues Daudi Abe.

In EMERALD STREETt: A History of Hip Hop in Seattle (University of Washington Press), Abe argues that Seattle deserves an honored spot in the cultural geography of hip hop in the United States. Although less well known than Los Angeles, New York, or even Atlanta and New Orleans, Seattle has spawned two Grammy-award winning artists (Sir Mix-a-Lot and Macklemore) and has had an active hip hop, graffiti, and breaking scene since the early 1980s. Hip Hop, as Abe argues in the book, is all about making yourself known and representing where you're from as a means of communicating to others what it's like being from that place. In that regard, Seattle has consistently been a loud and proud voice in that regard, with the city's hip hop sitting alongside grunge and indie rock as parts of the musical landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Listen in 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/emerald-street

18/02/2022

It began as an endurance competition akin to pedestrianism and weeklong cycling races and in many ways it never left those beginnings. Roller Derby always mixed sport and spectacle, eventually becoming on of the most popular entertainments in the country. Unlike any other sports at the time, Roller Derby included men and women skaters on the same team and even in some circumstances on the track at the same time. Both men and women contributed equally to the score, but changes to the game in the 1930s that made physical contact, including fighting, more common produced unease among some spectators. Roller Derby’s mixed gender composition and its violence both helped ensure its popularity with male and female fans, but also raised significant challenges to mid-century norms. Learn more about ROLLER DERBY: The History of an American Sport (University of Texas Press) as Marino joins us on the podcast ⬇️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/roller-derby

16/12/2021

Rayna Denison’s ANIME: A Critical Introduction (Bloomsbury Academic) uses genre as a window into the evolving global phenomenon of Japanese animation. Denison’s wide-ranging analysis tackles the anime themselves – including classics such as Astro Boy, Akira, Urotsukidōji, Spirited Away, and Natsume’s Book of Friends – but also the mechanics behind anime production and distribution in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Tracking anime’s circulation through these locations over time reveals key differences in how generic terms such as horror, nichijōkei/slice-of-life, and even anime itself are understood. Examining production and distribution contexts like the industry and fan event, Tokyo International Anime Fair, further discloses how companies and fans contextualize and re-contextualize anime to encourage its popularization in new time periods and markets. Check out the author's NBN interview ↙

https://newbooksnetwork.com/anime

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