New Books in Popular Culture

[Cross-posted from New Books in Critical Theory] It is a cliche to suggest we are what we read, but it is also an important insight. In The New Literary Middlebrow: Readers and Tastemaking in the Twenty First Century (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2014), Beth Driscoll, from University of Melbourne, extends and critiques the work of Pierre Bourdieu to account for modern literary tastes and the literary field in which those tastes are embedded. The book attempts to explore and defend the idea of the middlebrow in literature. 'Middlebrow' is defined by eight characteristics, whereby it is middle class, it has reverence to elite cultures, and it is entrepreneurial, mediated, feminised, emotional, recreational and earnest. In the main it is situated within the tension between the aesthetic and the commercial. The book uses four case studies to explore how this tension, along with the idea of the middlebrow, plays out. In the first case study the role of Oprah Winfrey as a tastemaker and cultural intermediary is explored as part of an analysis of book clubs. The analysis shows how Oprah's book club was important in establishing markets for books as well as being a site for the struggle over what is, and what is not, legitimate taste. This legitimacy is tied to elements of the middlebrow aesthetic, which has earnestness and self improvement as an important component. This component is both the source of struggle with more elite elements of the literary field and a source of changing reading practices, for example in the way Harry Potter is used in schools. The final two case studies, of book prizes and literary festivals, add to the defence of the middlebrow as a vital form of aesthetic production and cultural consumption for both understanding the future of reading and the future of the market for literature in the era of social media.

[Cross-posted from New Books in French Studies] Rachel Mesch's new book, Having It All in the Belle Epoque: How French Women's Magazines Invented the Modern Woman (Stanford University Press, 2013), is a fascinating study of Femina and La Vie Heureuse, the first French magazines to use photography to depict and appeal to women readers and consumers. Divided into two parts focused on "Readers and Writers" and "Texts and Contexts," the book examines the multiple ways these magazines represented and shaped women's lives in the years prior to the First World War.  Wide-ranging and rich in textual evidence and illustration, Mesch's account reveals much about how ideas and ideals about French women and femininity in these magazines engaged and interrogated both modernity and tradition. The book explores a series of questions raised in and by the pages of these publications: How should women balance work and home? What did marriage mean, and what were the keys its success? What was feminism in France, and how did this compare to other national feminisms? What impact did key female (literary and other) celebrities in France have on broader societal attitudes about women's roles and possibilities as consumers and producers of culture? Asking the question "Did women have a Belle Epoque?" Having It All… is a study that explores some of the early twentieth-century  history of concerns and debates that remain extremely relevant to women's lives into the twenty-first century. Readers will find in this book a rich archive that illuminates the history of women readers and writers before World War I while offering a longer-term perspective on the ways we think about the complexities of femininity and feminism (and their relationships to one another) up to the present day. Along these lines, the author has shared her research more widely in publications such as Slate, and on her blog Plus ça change.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Film] When television began to grow in popularity, broadcasters had to come up with programming to fill the day. Growing from the Flash Gordon movie serials, science fiction shows geared towards young people filled the air in the 1950s, affecting both entertainment and the consumer culture. The series were also major influences on modern filmmakers, including George Lucas. This collection of essays examines the genre in many different and interesting ways. In their new book 1950s “Rocketman” TV Series and Their Fans: Cadets, Rangers, and Junior Space Men (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2012) Cynthia J. Miller and co-editor A. Bowdoin Van Riper brought together various writers to discuss the rise of the shows, along with many of the political, cultural, and historical aspects of the characters and plots. Cynthia discusses these essays and also talks about the process of drawing together essays for an academic collection.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Film] One of the continuing issues of the entertainment industry is the treatment of women in movies and television. Even with a larger number of female writers, producers, and directors, roles often follow stereotypical and negative conventions. In her new book Smart Chicks on Screen: Representing Women’s Intellect in Film and Television (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014), Laura Mattoon D’Amore brought together 13 writers to discuss issues of the depiction of the intelligence of women on film and in television. The articles cover from the 1950s to present day and include interesting views of the depiction of females in both traditional roles and in newer settings. The four writers interviewed with Laura are: Stephen R. Duncan, who discusses the actress Judy Holliday and how her image was altered by the Cold War red scare. Stefania Marghitu, who examines the character of Peggy Olson from Mad Men, comparing her actions in the 1960s from the perspective of twenty first-century writers. De Anna J. Reese, who details how Kerry Washington is able to present a viable version of a black woman with power who is able to keep her racial and gender identity. Amanda Stone, who discusses the importance of the female characters of the popular series, The Big Bang Theory. These writers represent a great cross-section of ideas related to gender and intelligence that runs through the book.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Pop Music] What are female fans of popular music seeking and hearing when they listen to music and attend concerts? In an innovative and fascinating study entitled Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos (The Scarecrow Press, 2013)  Adrienne Trier-Bieniek goes inside the fan culture that surrounds Tori Amos and examines why her music appeals to her fans and how they make meaning of her music. Drawing on feminist standpoint theory and symbolic interaction theory, Trier-Bieniek helps us understand the diverse ways that fans interpret music and how music can have a very personal meaning. The podcast discusses the book and so much more. Trier-Bieniek describes the concerts of Tori Amos, Amos's interactions with fans, including WWE wrestler Mick Foley, and the growth of her fan sites and message boards. The podcast also looks at the relationship between Tori Amos's music and other female artists from Madonna and Lady Gaga to Joni Mitchell and Regina Spektor. Adrienne Trier-Bieniek is a professor of sociology at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. She is co-editor of Gender and Pop Culture – A Text Reader (Sense) and the author of the forthcoming books, Feminist Theory and Pop Culture (Sense) and Fan Girls and Media: Consuming Culture (Rowman and Littlefield). More information about Adrienne Trier-Bieniek can be found at her website.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Critical Theory] Our taken for granted assumptions are questioned in a new book by Karl Spracklen, a professor of leisure studies at Leeds Metropolitan University in England. Whiteness and Leisure (Palgrave, 2013) combines two bodies of theoretical literature to interrogate leisure activities which seem innocuous or inoffensive. The book deploys insights from critical race theory along with the work of Jurgen Habermas to at once critique leisure as a site for the continued reproduction of inequality, but at the same time consider the utopian or transformative possibilities offered by leisure activity. The central inequality concerning Whiteness and Leisure is that of the socially constructed, but socially powerful, idea of race. Spracklen argues that whilst there is no scientific evidence for the vast swathes of claims made about race, the idea is influential in modern life. Most notably, ideas of race create categories of normal or taken for granted, in the case of whiteness, and other, exotic and different in the case of blackness. The replication of social inequality using categories of race is shown in discussions of sport, both participating and watching, of popular culture, such as Harry Potter  and World of Warcraft, Music, including Folk and Metal, and forms of travel, tourism and outdoor experience. Drawing on a wide range of literature, empirical examples and personal anecdotes, the text will be of interest to readers from across both social science and the humanities, as well as anyone concerned with social justice.

[Cross-posted from New Books in European Studies] The social and cultural historian Joe Moran, Professor of English and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University, UK is interested in the everyday moments between great events. In his books Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime, On Roads: A Hidden History and now Armchair Nation: An Intimate History of Britain in Front of the TV (Profile Books, 2013) he documents the mundane activities that make up our lives. In Armchair Nation Moran surveys the history of television watching in Britain from the technology’s first demonstration in a department store in 1925 and up to today. Moran’s engaging narrative progresses through major milestones in the medium’s history. To document how watching television had become a daily habit for a multitude of individuals, Moran uses an assortment of sources such as newspaper reviews, listings and interviews, diaries, and Mass Observation entries. While Moran hesitates to treat the consumption of television as an act of community building, he does frame it as a communal and meaningful act that binds millions together.  Therefore, for Moran, the analysis of television consumption is also a meditation about the characteristics and challenges of collective memory.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Critical Theory] What is the value of music and why does it matter? These are the core questions in David Hesmondhalgh's new book Why Music Matters (Wiley Blackwell, 2014). The book attempts a critical defence of music in the face of both uncritical populist post-modernism and more economistic neo-liberal understandings of music's worth. Hesmondhalgh develops this critical defence of music by exploring its importance to individuals, to places, to communities and to nations, eventually engaging with the global aspects of music's role and position in society. The book seeks to argue against some common positions in music, reasserting the importance of embodied experiences, such as dancing, whilst taking issue with the idea of the rock star as hero. Moreover Hesmondhalgh shows the social position and social structures surrounding music, whilst remaining attentive to the aesthetic qualities of both genres and individual pieces of music. Most notably the book is ambivalent about much of the promises claimed by the advocates of music's transformative potential, but is never bleak, retaining a refreshing realism about the capacity of music to matter to people, publics and nations across the world.

[Cross-posted from New Books in French Studies] Did you catch the French national team's triumph in its first match against Honduras at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil? Well I did and it was fantastic. I was particularly excited knowing that the next morning, I was scheduled to interview Lindsay Krasnoff about her new book, The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France, 1958-2010 (Lexington Books, 2012). An illuminating account of  French sport since 1958, the book links the histories of football (soccer) and basketball to some of the major issues of the postwar period: the baby boom, the development of a consumer culture and new media, the Cold War, and decolonization. Moving from the “sports crisis” that preoccupied French policy makers in the wake of France’s poor showing at the 1960 Rome Olympics through the decades that led to the 1998 World Cup and subsequent victories, The Making of Les Bleus is a history of sport and politics that examines the interplay of the two on the national and international stages. Covering a period of over fifty years, the book considers sports as a primary means by which the French state sought to obtain and expand its own “soft power” in the world arena through the encouragement of national sports programs and culture. Krasnoff has drawn on an impressive range of archival material, as well as numerous interviews that provide readers with a unique perspective on recent years for which much of the written record remains off-limits to researchers. Concluding with a discussion of the most recent “sports crisis” in France (the national football team has suffered some serious losses n the last several years) Krasnoff’s study places more recent events in French sports culture in the context of a nation struggling with competing definitions of Frenchness. And I didn't miss the chance to ask this expert for her thoughts on France’s odds this World Cup round. We are both optimistic…

[Cross-posted from New Books in Food] Through some quirk of fate, the Hobbesian tag “filling, cheap, and familiar” is probably the defining phrase used when Americans think of Chinese food. Yet what could be less accurate a description of this cuisine, born halfway around the world, which had been evolving for well over a millennium before it was brought to California in the 1840s? The events that brought the Chinese and their food to our shores, to become so important a strand in the fabric of American eating, is the story Andrew Coe tells in his fascinating book, Chop Suey: The Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2009). It takes the reader by ship and railroad from 1784, when the fledgling United States first focused its sights on China as a market, to the present day. Why the Chinese came, what reception they received, what they did, and what happened when their work ran out is part of the story. After arriving in 1848 for the California Gold Rush, the Chinese created ancillary businesses, first feeding themselves, then feeding Americans, both in prospecting camps and in the village of Yerba Buena (which would grow into a port called San Francisco). The Chinese were “other.” Their story as an ethnic group is not a familiar one to most Americans. The West Coast has a dark history regarding its treatment of residents of Far Eastern origin, and it begins with the Chinese in nineteenth-century California. Coe opens our eyes. And what is chop suey? Is it even Chinese? Will Americans ever graduate to authentic Chinese food? These questions, and many more, with be answered by some unlikely professors: Louis Armstrong, Richard Nixon, and a Peking duck. National Geographic interviewed Coe in May 2014 for their upcoming television documentary, “Eat: The Story of Food,” scheduled to air in November 2014.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Food] When you imagine a gourmet experience, what comes to mind? An elegant restaurant, perhaps, with a single candle flickering at the center of a luminous white tablecloth? Maybe a quartet plays somewhere in the romantic distance, as the waiter slips a perfectly plated appetizer of escargot before you, and you proceed to nuzzle them out of their shells with silver tongs and that dainty fork? Perhaps this isn’t your image. Perhaps yours includes a view of the Pacific shore or the skyline of Manhattan or a wine list as long as actuarial table. But does your image include a taco truck? When Food & Wine magazine declared Roy Choi on of its “Best New Chefs” of 2010 for the food he was serving up in his Kogi BBQ truck, it signaled something like a sea change had happened in our idea of gourmet eating. And that’s the very change that Alison Pearlman explores in her book, Smart Casual: The Transformation of Gourmet Restaurant Style in America (University of Chicago, 2013). As she puts it, “Between 1975 and 2010, the style of gourmet dining in America transformed. Increasingly, restaurants of ‘fine’ dining incorporated food, décor, and other elements formally limited to the ‘casual’ dining experience.” The result, as Pearlman shows us, is a gourmet experience “replete with eroded hierarchies and pointed style contrasts, convergences of haute and ordinary.” And, we might add, taco trucks. In a keen investigation of every element of the dining experience, from menus to molecular gastronomy, Pearlman’s book reveals the surprising nature of what fine dining means for us today.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Russian and Eurasian Studies] Thirty years after a trip to the GDR, Soviet cardiologist V.I. Metelitsa still remembered mistakenly trying to buy a dress for a ten-year-old daughter in a maternity shop: 'In our country I couldn't even imagine that such a specialized shop could exist'." Well-stocked shops, attractive cafes, and medieval streets were among the many discoveries that Soviet citizens made in their trips abroad. After decades of closed borders and rumors of life abroad, the 1950s ushered in a new era — an era in which Soviet citizens would be able to participate in the transnational circulation of people, ideas, and items. In All This is Your World: Soviet Tourism at Home and Abroad After Stalin (Oxford University Press, 2011), Anne Gorsuch discusses the varied experiences of Soviet citizens traveling at home, to the “near abroad” of Estonia, and to Eastern and Western Europe, in the Khrushchev era. For many, this travel was no holiday but a purposeful excursion. Tourists were to learn about other parts of the world, but most importantly, they were to represent the Soviet Union in a Cold War struggle over culture. The Soviet tourist was an actor and the world his stage. If tourism was an olive branch and propaganda tool, however, it was also an opportunity for personal encounter and pleasure, including shopping on Oxford Street in London and enjoying the French Riviera. These experiences did not inevitably lead to anti-Soviet opinions or actions. For many elite travelers in the late 1950s and 1960s, it was possible for them to admire, purchase, and envy Western consumer goods, and still believe in the future of Soviet socialism. Dr. Gorsuch examines new opportunities for cultural exchange and transnational encounter, exploring the meaning of travel and exploration for a country breaking the chains of Stalinization.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Food] Don't worry. Or do. The most graphic page of Meghan Turbitt’s new comic book, #FoodPorn (2014) has sushi covering all the risky parts. Turbitt says she was inspired to ink the 32-page comic by her dining experiences around her neighborhood in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. A taco vendor’s apron, resplendent with bits of spicy food, looks too good not to eat. A rather ugly pizza-tosser becomes more attractive moment by moment as the gorgeous pie he’s constructing moves closer to her climactic devouring of it. Here is an artist using comics to do what the medium can do better than nearly any other: allow the creator to follow his or her Id to its absolute expression. Listen and love.

[Cross-posted from New Books in East Asian Studies] In Songs of Seoul: An Ethnography of Voice and Voicing in Christian South Korea (University of California Press, 2013), Nicholas Harkness explores the human voice as an instrument, and object, and an emblem in a rich ethnography of songak in Christian South Korea. In Songs of Seoul, the voice is deeply embodied. It is also shaped by an aesthetics of progress, as songak singers cultivate a “clean” voice that becomes an emblem for that progress in terms of Christian and national advancement. Part 1 of the book introduces readers to the vocal practices enacted by songak singers to cultivate clean voices, situating these practices in the histories and spaces from which they emerge and considering the relationship between singing and evangelism in modern Korea. Part 2 considers the voice as a nexus of social relations, considering how singers navigate between church and university, home and abroad, peers and superiors. It analyzes the (simultaneously public and intimate) ritual performances of songak singing, paying special attention to the role of singing in creating affective bonds among members of Christian Korean communities. Harkness’s book is an inspiring, thoughtful ethnography that contributes to a wide range of fields, and will be of special interest to anyone who enjoys reading about modern Korea, sound studies, music history, religion, and performance studies.

[Cross-posted from New Books in Pop Music] It is a challenge for all musicians to find success in the modern music industry, but women face unique challenges. Cultural narratives shape how female artists get sold to the public and those narratives, in turn, affect how the public consumes the music of these women artists. Kristin Lieb examines the business decisions that shape the careers of female pop artists.  Her book, Gender, Branding and the Modern Music Industry (Routledge, 2013), explores this terrain and develops a lifecycle model for female artists. This model describes how many female artists enter pop music as “good girls” only later to become “temptresses,” which then can transform into a range of possible branding options from “divas” and “exotics” to “whores” and “hot messes.”  Lieb developed this model by interviewing the business managers, marketers, and agents who are shaping how artists get branded and marketed. In the interview, Lieb applies this model to a wide range of artists from Miley Cyrus and Lorde to Adele and Madonna. She offers tremendous insight about how behind the scenes business and marketing decisions shape the artists that become successful Dr. Kristin Lieb is an assistant professor of marketing communication at Emerson College. Before coming a professor, she worked as a freelancer for Billboard and Rolling Stone and worked as a marketing executive for several music-related companies.