By introducing numerous future songwriters, musicians, and music producers, Joel Selvin presents a very colorful and intense picture of a California long gone. When with what he calls the “University High School class of 1958” the groundwork for the powerful American pop music of the 1960s and 1970s was laid, as some of that group […]
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Tag: American Studies
The History and Politics of Star Wars. Death Stars and Democracy by Chris Kempshall (2022)
As the most successful movie franchise in history, Star Wars has generated millions of fans worldwide, not to mention the billions of dollar revenue it created already. Soon after the first movie release, critics and academics began their study of the background, intentions and inspirations of the saga. This project until today remains mostly incomplete, […]
Film Noir and Los Angeles: Urban History and the Dark Imaginary by Sean W. Maher (2022)
Movies of the film noir genre, shot in the US, usually had two favorite locations when it came to large cities and a setting that would breathe the air of crime, provide sinister plots, gunmen and desperate main characters: the pictures were either set in New York City or Los Angeles. As with Los Angeles, […]
21st Century Retro: “Mad Men” and 1960s America in Film and Television by Debarchana Baruah (2021)
Revivals of cultural and retrospectively oriented tendencies in music, fashion and design have been around for a long time. Many contemporary American and European TV productions successfully revisit the 1940s, 1950s and very often the 1960s. The shows differ greatly in their amount of historical correctness and the many important events that influence the protagonists […]
To Boldly Stay: Essays on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Sherry Ginn and Michael G. Cornelius (eds.) ...
When in 1993 the first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) aired, it was the beginning of a very unusual show, believed by many Star Trek fans to be the best window into the Federation cosmos. After 176 episodes, set in 2369-2375 and as such happening almost simultaneously to the timelines of Star […]
Rock’n’Roll Plays Itself: A Screen History by John Scanlan (2022)
When in the mid-1950s rock’n’roll as both commercial force and incarnation of teenage style invaded the charts and cinema screens, the new category was a bit too much for most common and well-aged (British and American) entertainment shows and representations on screen. In the early days, neither TV nor the film industry would grasp the […]
Rural Rhythm: The Story of Old-Time Country Music in 78 Records by Tony Russell (2021)
The label “Old-Time Music” refers to American-made music, instrumental and with vocals, that was performed nationwide in public and privately from roughly the early 1800s until the early 1940s, although it became mostly a regional style in the early 20th century. Those (basically all white) musical groups usually featured string instruments such as mandolins, banjos, […]
Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power Around the World by Ross Melnick
To understand the impact movies and in particular the American movie industry had since the 1920s, not just the messages, directors or entertaining subjects of the films were important, but also the manner how the product film was presented all over the world. For that purpose, the well-known website Cinema Treasures has collected data and […]
Triumph Over Containment: American Film in the 1950s by Robert P. Kolker (2021)
There are very many books on both the American post-war years and the films of the long 1950s, usually with the emphasis on a genre or a sociological topic. The book at hand, however, has a somewhat special approach, as it is preoccupied with the decade and its implications on the American public, as experienced […]